We cheered him to the end, says the man who sold the winner

Silver Birch's previous owner, Des Nichols, was left counting the cost of selling the horse last year and missing out on a share of the

£399,140 John Smith’s Grand National prize money.

Nichols, who is group

promotions director of The

Mail on Sunday’s parent

company, Associated

Newspapers, watched the

race from his home in Sussex

with daughters Georgina (12)

and Rosanne (8).

"We cheered him all the way

to the line," he said. "He’s a lovely, lovely horse and

I’m absolutely thrilled for him.

I have an oil painting of him on

the wall here and it will have

even more meaning for me

now that he’s won a Grand

National."

Silver Birch was

trained by Paul Nicholls when

Nichols and fellow owner Paul

Barber decided to sell.

Nichols added: "We won the

Becher Chase at Aintree and

the Welsh National at

Chepstow with him a couple

of seasons ago and he was

made favourite for the 2005

Grand National, but had a

setback before the race and

could not run.

"He ran in last year’s Grand

National but got no further

than The Chair. That’s when

we took the decision to sell

him. We sent him to the

Doncaster sales and he went

for £20,000.

"It’s a pity we sold

him when we did but that’s

racing. I really fancied his

chances this year and had a

four-figure bet on him for old

time’s sake. He’s a star and I

hope he goes on to win again

next year."

AINTREE was forced to

abandon the last race of the

National meeting because of

concerns over Grand

National faller Graphic

Approach.

Racegoers had

seen Graphic Approach,

ridden by Paul Moloney, fall

at the 22nd fence and

immediately collapse with

heat stress.

He was treated on the track,

forcing the following

handicap chase to be delayed

by half-an-hour and the final

race to be called off.