Red Marauder to miss Grand National

19 February 2002

Last year’s Grand National winner Red Marauder will miss this year’s race due a leg problem

Red Marauder will not be defending the Aintree crown he won so gallantly in the mud last April.

The 2001 Martell Grand National winner will miss the rest of the season after damaging a foreleg in his first serious workout of the campaign. He was due to compete in a charity flat race at Hereford next month.

“He’s lived with aleg for the last four years and it’s never really been great this year. There is a tiny bit of heat there, not serious, but enough,” said owner-trainer Norman Mason’s assistant Richard Guest.

“It is disappointing, but at the same time we had half an idea that we were going to struggle with him. The main thing is that he is healthy and still in one piece. The vets do not envisage any long-term problems.”

The 12-year-old’s first challenge next season is expected to be the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Newbury in November.

• Don’t miss this week’s issue of Horse & Hound for all the latest racing news and reports, or click here to subscribe.
• Click here to read about record entries for this year’s race.
• Click here to read more about Red Marauder.

Stay in touch with all the news in the run-up to and throughout the major shows and events during 2026 and beyond with a Horse & Hound subscription. Subscribe today for all you need to know ahead of these major events, plus online reports on the action as it happens from our expert team of reporters and in-depth analysis in our special commemorative magazines. Have a subscription already? Set up your unlimited website access now