A jockey has been given a 10-day ban for continuing to ride his horse despite him noticeably struggling in the 2025 Grand National. The horse later collapsed and required immediate veterinary attention on the course.
Jockey Michael Nolan rode Celebre D'Allen during the main event of the day at Aintree. Despite a good performance at the start of the race, the horse, trained by Philip Hobbs and Johnson White, began to struggle towards the end and was clearly in difficulty after the 29th fence.
However, Nolan continued to ride Celebre D'Allen until just before the final fence. After pulling up the horse almost immediately collapsed and was seen to by vets. It was later confirmed he had been able to walk into a horse ambulance on the racecourse and was then taken for further tests.
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Following a stewards' enquiry, the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) ruled that Nolan had breached riding rules by continuing on a horse he could see was struggling. You can see all the live updates from the day here.
The stewards' report said: "An enquiry was held to consider whether Micheal Nolan, the rider of Celebre D'Allen (FR), had continued in the race when the horse appeared to have no more to give and was clearly losing ground after the second-last fence. The rider and the Veterinary Officer were interviewed, and recordings of the incident were viewed. The rider was suspended for 10 days."
It was revealed later in the day that the horse sustained heatstroke and was staying overnight at Aintree for monitoring.
This years' historic Grand National saw Nick Rockett win the race, marking a father-son victory for renowned trainer Willie Mullin and his son, Patrick. The Irishman had trained all the top three horses in the race, a remarkable achievement which makes him the first trainer in the modern era to saddle a one-two-three finish in the race at Aintree.
Another horse Broadway Boy suffered a horror fall during the race at Aintree on Saturday afternoon. The horse had been leading and looked set for victory but suffered a worrying fall five fences from the finish. You can read the latest update here.
