Owned by John P. McManus and trained by Henry De Bromhead in Knockeen, Co. Waterford, Minella Times was retired in February 2023, as a 10-year-old, after sustaining a shoulder injury during preparations for the 2023 Grand National. All told, the Oscar gelding won four of his 24 races over hurdles and fences and amassed £486,876 in prize money.
However, his name is writ large in the annals of Aintree history because, in 2021, not only did he win the Grand National but, in so doing, made Rachael Blackmore the first female jockey in history to win the celebrated steeplechase. Reflecting on her landmark success, Blackmore, who herself retired from racing in May 2025, said, “This is so massive. I had such a beautiful passage around. Minella Times jumped fantastically and didn’t miss a beat anywhere.”
Sent off at 11/1 fourth-favourite in a maximum field of 40 runners, Minella Times was always well-placed and, having made steady headway from midfield early on the second circuit, led narrowly turning from home. Two lengths ahead jumping the final fence, he drew further clear approaching the Elbow, halfway up the run-in, and further still in the closing stages, eventually passing the post 6½ lengths of his stable companion, 100/1 outsider Balko Des Flos. Another McManus-owned horse, Any Second Now, finished third, a further 1¾ lengths away.
Minella Times returned to Aintree for the 2022 Grand National, in which he was set off 9/1 third-favourite, despite racing off a 15lb higher mark than the previous year. There was to be no repeat of his 2021 heroics, though, for he was badly hampered and brought down at Valentine’s Brook on the first circuit. That was, in fact, the third of five non-completions in the final six starts of his career. The 2021 Grand National proved to be his swansong and he was retired to Martinstown Stud in Co. Limerick, which is owned by McManus. His original owner, John Nallen of Hotel Minella in Clonmel, Co. Tipperary, said, “That’s a retirement home I’d love to go there myself if I qualified, if I’d four legs I’d be there in the morning.”