On Saturday Many Clouds will be bidding for back-to-back wins in the Grand National and his jockey a treble — here are a few things you need to know about Oliver Sherwood’s stablestar…
1. ‘Clouds’ has a huge following and a fan club who regularly send him letters, carrots, apples and plenty of polos.
2. He’s a shy horse and would rather stand at the back of his stable than lap up attention — open days at his trainer Oliver Sherwood’s yard are not his favourite.
3. Last year, aged eight, he was the youngest winner of the Grand National since Bindaree in 2002. He was carrying the most weight since Red Rum and won the race in the second-fastest time.
4. He helped his jockey Leighton Aspell to back-to-back Grand National wins and the whole race was filmed on a JockeyCam (see video below) worn by the Irish jockey.
5. Clouds is known as a gentle giant standing at an almighty 17.1hh.
6. He won on his racecourse debut on 21 February 2012 — an open National Hunt Flat race at Wetherby.
7. He was purchased by Trevor Hemmings as a three-year-old for just €6,000 (£4,700).
8. You won’t see him making use of the swimming pool at Sherwood’s yard as swimming him in the past has “made him colicky” according to his trainer.
9. At home Clouds is fondly named ‘the Black Aeroplane’— a name also used by racing fans for Sprinter Sacre.
10. He is known to give 110% in all his races, which often see him ‘have a wobble’ after races — he is on the Jockey Club list to be given oxygen post-race.
11. In 2015, Clouds topped the H&H poll with the most votes to win our ‘Equine Personality of the Year’.
12. Jockey Leighton Aspell has ridden him in all of his 24 starts since 2012.
13. He is currently 8-1 favourite to win the Grand National again this year.
Don’t miss H&H’s Grand National preview on sale today (Thursday, 7 April) — we visit Many Clouds at home, talk to lady jockey Katie Walsh plus read our ultimate form guide for the big race on Saturday