David Noonan is living the dream in David Pipe's stable

Captain William Martin Becher was sitting in a muddy brook ruefully regretting that the surrounding water tasted filthy without the benefit of whiskey.

His mount, Conrad, had refused at the obstacle, Becher was thrown head over heels into the ditch on the other side and was now watching as the field of the inaugural Aintree Grand National of 1839 passed by. His only prize that day was to have his name associated eternally with that filthy ditch and Becher’s Brook remains the most celebrated fence in horse racing history.

The good Captain was a member of the Wrixon-Becher family from the Barony of Duhallow in North-West Cork and although far from being the most capable horseman connected with an area dripping with steeplechase history, his fall into that brook has earned him a lion’s share of the attention. But by 5.30 this afternoon this may have changed utterly.