Mick Fitzgerald ‘did not realise what an enormous deal the Grand National was’ till he received it
Despite being a Grand National winning jockey, Mick Fitzgerald cemented his place in the hall of fame for perhaps an unexpected reason.
After crossing the finishing line victorious and enduring a tense stewards inquiry, the Irish-born champion turned to Des Lynam and delivered the line: “After that Des, sex is an anti-climax”. When asked 30 years later whether he still believes that to be the case, he jokes: “I think my wife would probably kill me. So, no”.
The horse that carried him to glory was none other than Rough Quest – the first favourite for 14 years to win the Grand National, going off at odds of 7/1. But the gelding, owned by Andrew Wates and trained by Terry Casey, had to survive a lengthy stewards’ enquiry before the good news was delivered.
He had beaten Encore Un Peu in a tight finish, but appeared to drift in front of his opponent on the run after hanging left in the closing stages. And thus a legend was born – but Mick didn’t quite realise the enormity of the situation. He always been more focused winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup, which finally achieved on See More Business in 1999.
He says: “It actually blew me away how big was. I almost didn’t realise what a big deal National was until I won it.”
Seeing himself on the newsstands was unbelievable, but one memory in particular still sticks out. He laughs: “One of the things that had happened was I was flown up by the BBC afterNational to do A Question Of Sport. For someone of a certain age, it was one of the big programmes on TV. To be on there was a huge deal”.
But for Mick, Aintree Racecourse would become the scene of bittersweet memories.
The festival that made his career would suddenly end it 12 years later, when he fell on L’Ami at second fence, sustaining spinal injuries.
“I thought he was the best chance,” he says. “And he was a good jumper. I’d been fifth in Gold Cup on him. So he had a bit of class.
“But he went to the second and he just didn’t take off. He didn’t do anything. And in those days, the fences were a little bit different. When you as close to the fence as he did, there was no didn’t take off, I knew I was in big trouble. I just thought, ‘Oh, this is going to hurt.'”
Mick still gets emotional reliving the painful memories. “When I came to, it was all a bit weird because I was probably in a bit of a state of shock,” he says. “I was lying there, but I wasn’t really lying there,you know what I mean. It just felt almost like an out of body experience because I couldn’t feel anything.
“And I have to admit for the first time in my life I was really scared. And it still affects me now when I talk about it, think about it because it was a really scary time for me. And it was funny, like all I ever wanted to do was ride racehorses.
“It’s all I’ve ever wanted to do since I left school. All I ever wanted to do is ride winners. And lying there on the ground when I couldn’t feel my legs, I just thought of my two young children. They were 18 months old and five months old. And I just thought about them. It was really weird because I never thought about, you know, the next race or what was going to happen.
“All I could think was, ‘I want to be able to feel my legs because I want to be able to do stuff with my kids and live the rest of my life.'” Since Mick’s accident, he hasn’t been able to get back on a horse – as doctors warn one more fall could prove fatal. It’s been a tough blow for a man who rode his first racehorse at the age of 13. He’s still looks after horses with his wife and son, who also ride.
“I miss it every day,” he reveals. “Horses are my life, but I can’t ride them. And it’s sometimes hard for me because it was probably the only thing I was ever any good at and I miss being able to do it.
“It’s like everything. Nothing lasts forever. Just pleased I got the opportunity to ride as many good horses as I did.”
