Guy Disney, amputee and former soldier, rode in – and completed – the Foxhunters’ Chase over the Grand National Course at Aintree on the first day of the 2018 Grand National Festival, Grand National Thursday 12th April.
In doing so, Disney claimed a place in the history books for becoming the first amputee jockey to ride in a race over the famous Grand National fences.
Disney rides with a prosthetic lower right leg after the vehicle in which he was travelling in Afghanistan was hit by a rocket-propelled grenade in July, 2009.
In February, 2017, the former Army Captain became the first amputee jockey to win a race under Rules in Britain when gaining victory aboard Rathlin Rose in the Royal Artillery Gold Cup at Sandown Park Racecourse. Disney and Rathlin Rose teamed up for a repeat success in the same contest this year (see below).
Gallery Exhibition
Disney’s ride in the Randox Health Foxhunters’ Chase comes after he assembled a syndicate, Somerset Racing GD, to buy Gallery Exhibition, trained by Grand National-winning trainer, Kim Bailey. The horse was purchased with the explicit aim of running in the Aintree race for amateur riders.
Speaking to The Jockey Club’s Love The Jumps podcast ahead of the race, Kim Bailey explained: “It will be an extraordinary feat.
“I saw Guy when he was in hospital, in Selly Oak, so I’ve known the story from day one. When he was lying in hospital, all he wanted to do was ride in a race and get back in the saddle and that was his ultimate dream.
“We all thought he had no chance really. And he then rode in a charity race and finished second.
“Since then he’s moved on to prove himself under Rules and in point-to-points. The hours he’s spent with Yogi Breisner and others trying to help him to get back in the saddle and ride and get the BHA (British Horseracing Authority) to agree to let him ride, have been extraordinary. He has been here countless times schooling over my fences.
“Every time he came here he ended up riding Gallery Exhibition, who was a horse owned by four people beforehand. So he has known the horse for a long-time, come here and schooled him again recently, and then the horse has come up for sale because one of the owners died, so the partnership was dissolved. But Guy very quickly got his Somerset Racing team together to buy the horse so that he could ride him in the Foxhunters.”
Unlike his jockey, Gallery Exhibition has raced over the Grand National fences previously, coming fifth in the 2016 Topham Chase.
Bailey continued: “He came from a long way back to finish fifth [on soft ground] and he jumped very well that day. He’s a horse that wants good ground so if it does dry up between now and then it’s going to help him enormously.
“Yes, he is a horse that has got experience around there and Guy hasn’t. Everyone has a dream, everyone has a wish to do something in life and this is Guy’s really. He wants more than anything else to ride around those fences.
“They will have schooled over the [Jockey Club Estates’ Grand National practice] fences at Lambourn by the time he hits the racecourse. He’ll do that several times so we’ll make sure he’s got plenty of practice at it.”
Gallery Exhibition and Disney teamed up for the first time on course at Musselburgh on 3rd February, when finishing a staying-on third to fellow Foxhunters’ Chase aspirants Wonderful Charm and Winged Crusader in a hunters’ chase.
The Foxhunters’ Chase
The Foxhunters’ Chase was the first race of the 2018 Grand National Festival that took place over Aintree’s Grand National fences. The Foxhunters’ Chase is run over two miles, five furlongs and 19 yards, jumping 18 fences. It is restricted to amateur jockeys.
Guy Disney and Gallery Exhibition finished 12th in the race, behind winner Balnaslow. He said after the race: “It’s the sort of thing you’d do every day until you die if you could, it’s very special.”
By taking part in the race and completing it, he rode his way once again into the history books.
Sandown Royal Artillery Gold Cup
Prior to making history at Aintree, Guy Disney had won the Royal Artillery Gold Cup at Sandown Park for a second successive year, aboard Rathlin Rose. In 2017 he became the first amputee jockey to win a race at a professional racecourse in Britain.
Guy said after the 2018 race: “It’s massive. The trouble is you can’t keep the feeling once you’ve won. Last time feels like a long time ago. I want to win the next time. I’d like to come here in March and win the race again.
“There’s no point celebrating winning the race a year ago, it’s about enjoying now and trying to have another winner the next time and hopefully here again in March.”
Asked to sum up how he felt after winning his third race, he said: “Satisfaction. I was quite nervous today, actually. I thought he’d get there. Every time, whether it be a maiden point to point or a winner here, the feeling of winning is a complete drug. It’s completely addictive. Who knows what I’m going to do when I don’t ride any more. I can’t replicate the feeling of winning in any way at the moment, I really can’t.”
Paying tribute to the horse he went on: “What’s amazing is when you ask him to go he just has this lovely build up of speed. I was trying not to be too busy on him. Horses like that know what they’re doing. You don’t want to mess them about.
Photo of Guy Disney winning the Sandown Royal Artillery Gold Cup 2018, courtesy of hoycubed photography.
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