THERE are very few major sports in which amateurs can compete against professionals at the highest level and, occasionally, win. But jump racing is one of them, as Sam Waley-Cohen (or Mr Sam Waley-Cohen as he was in the racecard) reminded us in April 2022 when he became the first amateur for 32 years to win the Grand National. The course at Aintree may have evolved over the decades to something less testing than it once was, but the National nevertheless still takes a lot of winning: you still have to negotiate 30 fences, beat 39 other starters and the handicapper swears it is a ‘better race’ these days. (How could you get a better race than Red Rum versus Crisp in 1973?) But from Captain Martin Becher, after whom the eponymous brook was named after he fell into the ditch from Conrad in the first running, to Waley-Cohen 183 years later, amateurs have played a huge part in the rich tradition of the world’s greatest race. Until stiffer riding qualifications were introduced in 1989, which have been ratcheted up ever since, amateurs with no earthly chance of winning, riding little more than a hunter
