Any Grand National aficionado worth his, or her, salt will delight in telling you that Mon Mome ran in the celebrated steeplechase four times, finishing tenth in 2008, winning, at odds of 100/1, in 2009 and failing to complete the course in both 2010 and 2011. However, even a dyed-in-the-wool ‘anorak’ may have difficulty remembering Marcolo, whose name does not appear on any roll of honour.
In fact, Marcolo ran in the Grand National just once, as an 11-year-old in 1988, when he was sent off rank outsider of the 40 runners at 200/1. Trained by the late Peter Ransom and ridden by a promising amateur rider listed on the racecard as ‘Miss V. Williams’, Marcolo fell at Becher’s Brook on the first circuit, knocking his jockey unconscious in the process. His jockey was, of course, Venetia Williams who, since 1995, has held a training licence at King’s Caple in Herefordshire and saddled over 1,500 winners on British soil, including the aforementioned Mom Mome.
Reflecting on what turned out to be her one and only ride in Grand National, Venetia Williams said, ‘That was the year that Rhyme ‘N’ Reason won, and he virtually went at Becher’s the first time. The next day, the Racing Post had a sequence of pictures on the front page showing him basically doing the splits, and in the background, about half a length behind, you can see my dramatic exit.’
A little over two decades later, by which time she had established herself as one of the leading lights in the training ranks, Venetia Williams returned to Aintree to make amends for her previous mishap. Ridden by the late Liam Treadwell, Mon Mome belied treble-figure odds by drawing clear on the run-in to beat the defending champion Comply Or Die by 12 lengths and give his trainer what she later called ‘the best day of my life’.