Don't Push It

Don’t Push It was a bay gelding, owned by John Patrick “J.P.” McManus and trained by Jonjo O’Neill at Jackdaws Castle in Gloucestershire, who won eight of his 28 races under National Hunt Rules and over £750,000 in total prize money. However, the son of top-class jumps sire Old Vic etched his name into the annals of racing history when, on April 10, 2010, he put in a faultless round of jumping to win the Grand National under A.P. McCoy.

Don’t Push It was backed into 10/1 joint favourite, from 20/1, on the day of the race, but McManus – nicknamed the ‘Sundance Kid’ because of his betting exploits – said, “I noticed his odds had come in before the race but I didn’t back him, I was just happy to see him deliver the goods.”

In a race run at an end-to-end gallop, Don’t Push It made headway from mid-division to track the leaders heading out into the country for the second time and, by the time the bold-jumping Black Apalachi took over from the long-time leader Conna Castle at Becher’s Brook on the second circuit, only a handful of horses were left with a realistic chance of winning. Two of them, Big Fella Thanks and Hello Bud, weakened from the second last fence, at which Don’t Push It took second place. He took the lead at the last and stayed on well from the famous “Elbow” to beat Black Apalachi by 5 lengths, with State Of Play, who snatched third place from Big Fella Thanks close home, a further 20 lengths away.

In so doing, he became the first Grand National winner for A.P. McCoy after fifteen attempts. The perennial champion jockey – who retired in April, 2015, with a record 4,358 winners and was knighted in the New Year's Honours in 2016 – said afterwards, “The National is the people’s race and to have won it at last is really special.”

Jonjo O’Neill, who was also winning the race for the first time, later reflected on the occasion, saying, “I think we’ll always remember the magical day he won the Grand National as it was one of the greatest afternoons in the life of myself, J.P. and A.P. as we had all been trying to win the race for so many years.”