‘Fairytale’ is just beginning for Grand National winner
Sam tipped for BBC Sport Personality of the Year gong
JOCKEY Sam Waley-Cohen is tipped to be Sports Personality of The Year after his “fairytale” Grand National win – dedicated to his tragic brother.
Sam in his last race won on 50/1 outsider Noble Yeats, who dad Robert bought just two months ago.
After his win the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge tweeted: “Huge congratulations to @swaleycohen.What a way to retire!”
The 39-year-old is credited with reuniting pal Kate Middleton with Prince William after they split in 2007 while dating.
He invited them to a party at his 17th-century Oxfordshire mansion. In weeks they were back together and holidaying in the Seychelles.
Bookies say Sam’s odds of winning the Sports Personality vote in December have halved to 50/1.
Coral said: “Now having ended his career with victory in the famous Aintree race, Sam WaleyCohen surely has to be in the running for this year’s BBC award.”
Sam went to boarding school with Kate and she helped raise funds for a ward in his brother’s Thomas’s memory at Oxford’s John Radcliffe Hospital.
Thomas died aged 20 of bone cancer in 2004. After Saturday’s race, Sam said: “These days are big family days, and obviously Thomas isn’t with us, so you always think about him on these days. I always ride with his initials on my saddle. I do think he is sitting on my back.
“It’s a fairytale, a fantasy. There’s a lot of love and gratefulness.”
Yesterday, Sam, his dad, the winning horse and trainer Emmet Mullins had a homecoming parade in County Carlow, Ireland.
Sam has been riding for 23 years and won the Cheltenham Gold Cup and had four other top-10 National finishes. After his win he said he would celebrate with a cup of tea.
Waley-Cohen – a father-of-three – also owns 250 dental practices.
Aintree’s 70,000 sellout on Saturday follows Covid lock-outs.