Picture of the Day – April 8

The horse was a 50/1 chance.

Jockey Tom Taaffe is dragged by his mount Sergeant Sprite after failing to clear the Becher’s Brook jump in the 1989 Seagram Grand National at Aintree.

Sent off a 50-1 chance for the then four-and-a-half-mile marathon, Sergeant Sprite arrived on the back of a second place at Leopardstown, but was struggling from an early stage.

He was off the back of the main field running down to Becher’s and while he cleared the fence, he knuckled on landing and gave Taaffe no chance of staying in the saddle.

Little Polveir and Jimmy Frost went on to cause a 28-1 shock as the duo beat previous National winner West Tip by seven lengths.

Sergeant Sprite won just once more under rules, but Taaffe went on to achieve considerably more once he switched to the training ranks.

He sent out Kicking King to win successive King George VI Chases in 2004 and 2005, with that horse also taking top honours in the 2005 Cheltenham Gold Cup.

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