Former jockey Mick Fitzgerald joined us on Off the Ball Saturday to reminisce on the Grand National with trainer Jimmy Mangan.
Both of them know what it's like to win the famous race at Aintree in Liverpool.
Fitzgerald rode 'Rough Quest' to victory in 1996 and Mangan trained 'Monty's Pass' to come home in front in 2003.
Fitzgerald was born in Cork, but grew up in Wexford.
Trained by Terry Casey, Rough Quest had finished second in the Cheltenham Gold Cup to Imperial Call the previous month and went off the 7/1 favourite off a light weight of 10-8 for the Grand National.
The horse's preparation may have been perfect, but Mick's didn't go exactly to plan!
"I was chatting to my Dad last night and 24 years ago I spent a very restless night with him in a hotel where he snored the whole night long. I thought it would be quite nice to have a bit of family bonding and share a twin room with my Dad. He'd had a few drinks and actually snored all night. I spent most of the night getting up and down out of my bed and trying to move him and stop him snoring."
Nevertherless, come the Saturday, Fitzgerald didn't put a foot wrong as he guided his chaser to a one and a quarter length victory over Encore Un Peu, a buzz the ex-jockey can still feel.
"That was a magic day. It was easy. I don't know whether it was naivety of youth or what it is. I was convinced the horse would win. It's funny, there's 30 fences. I knew after the third fence that he was going to win. It was as simple as that because he was so sure footed. When you have got a horse that is taking to the fences as they were then, it is magical. There is no feeling quite like riding a horse that is jumping those fences well, because it's nothing you experience on a daily basis, it's very different."
No wonder I got so excited after. Well Des, after that even Sex .......... https://t.co/xkaf46f5XF
— mick fitzgerald (@mickfitzg) March 30, 2020
There was slight crossing of Rough Quest and Encore Un Peu in the straight which meant Fitzgerald had to endure a stewards' enquiry for Rough Quest to the awarded the race, but there was no doubt who was the best horse on the day.
Fitzgerald called his autobiography 'Better than Sex' after a quip he made live on the BBC to presenter Des Lynam after the race and he explains the context behind that memorable remark.
"There was a stewards' enquiry immediately after the race and I thought I was going to become the first ever jockey to win the National and lose it in the stewards' room. So we had quite a long wait before the winner was actually announced. Des Lynam as far as I was concerned was like a half brother to God. He was Mr. Saturday TV. And being introduced to him I got a bit carried away."
He said: "Mick Fitzgerald you have just won the Grand National, how does that feel?"
"And I said Des, 'after that, even sex is an anti-climax'. Obviously now I work in television and you've got somebody in your ear telling you. I could just see Des' eyes flicker when I said it and somebody must have went to him, 'Holy bleep', did he really just say that!"
You can watch the full Saturday Panel chat with Mick Fitzgerald, Jimmy Mangan and presenter John Duggan below.
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