A feature-length documentary celebrating Grand National hero Tiger Roll has been released, days before he was due to bid for an historic Aintree hat-trick.
Having won the world’s most famous horse race in each of the past two years, the 10-year-old was expected to be sent off favourite to become the first horse to ever win three successive Nationals in Saturday’s showpiece, only for the meeting to be cancelled because of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Betfair documentary – titled ‘Tiger Roll: Horse of a Lifetime’ – charts the unlikely rise of a horse who was bred for the flat and began his National Hunt career as a juvenile hurdler.
With insight from a host of key protagonists, including trainer Gordon Elliott, owner Michael O’Leary and regular jockeys Davy Russell and Keith Donoghue, the 45-minute film tells the story of ‘the people’s horse’, right from his first racecourse appearance in a maiden hurdle, through four Cheltenham Festival successes and right up to the present day.
As well as the highs, viewers get the inside track on the injury problems that almost derailed his career and find out just how close Gigginstown House Stud were to putting him up for sale.
Red Rum is the only horse to have ever won three Grand National, doing so across a period of five years in the 1970s. Elliott has already confirmed that Tiger Roll will be back next year for a fresh crack at the treble bid, though fans can find out how he might have fared this year when ITV screen the Virtual Grand National on Saturday afternoon.
You can watch Tiger Roll: Horse of a Lifetime here.
