As the late, great Donald ‘Ginger’ McCain told BBC Sport in the aftermath of the 2010 Grand National, “You always get a fairytale at Aintree and you couldn’t have written anything better.” On April 10, 2010, the ‘fairytale’ revolved the connections of the winner, Don’t Push It, namely J.P. McManus, in whose familiar green-and-gold silks he raced, trainer Jonjo O’Neill and jockey Tony McCoy, all of whom were achieving their first victories in the world famous steeplechase.
Sent off 10/1 joint-favourite, having been backed in from 22/1 earlier in the day, Don’t Push It never really gave his supporters an anxious moment. Settled in midfield on the first circuit, the 10-year-old made headway to race more prominently on the second and was one of a group of four – the others being Black Apalchi, Hello Bud and the other joint-favourite Big Fella Thanks – who pulled clear with two to jump. Don’t Push lead, narrowly, over the final fence, but asserted on the run-in, staying on strongly to beat Black Apalachi by five lengths. State Of Play took a modest third, 20 lengths behind the first two, from Big Fella Thanks close home.
Victory in the National marked a return to form for Don’t Push It, who had been pulled up over hurdles in the Pertemps Final at the Cheltenham Festival on his previous start, having “appeared to lose interest”, as O’Neill later reported to the Aintree stewards. The Old Vic gelding struggled for form thereafter, too, although he did return to Aintree to finish a modest third behind Ballabriggs in the 2011 Grand National, again under McCoy. He ran just once more, finishing unplaced in a handicap hurdle at Cheltenham in November 2011, and was retired from racing the following January. Nevertheless, he will always be remembered for what bookmaker Paddy Power deemed, in financial terms, “probably the worst ever National result”.