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He was the Grand National’s sneezy rider who briefly had a sniff of glory – while nursing an unfortunate allergy to horses.
Sean Bowen has become one of jump racing’s brightest stars even though he is left with streaming eyes whenever he brushes his horses.
Riding 20-1 shot Three Card Brag at the Aintree showpiece for famed Irish trainer Gordon Elliott, Bowen was eventually forced to settle for 11th. But after initially challenging among the frontrunners, he said he would look back on his ride with “great pride”.
“I didn’t sneeze,” he joked to Telegraph Sport after the race. “The allergy is well under control.”
These days Bowen, 27, usually only suffers adverse reactions while brushing his horses in the stables. However, life as a top-level jockey appeared most unlikely for him as a child, despite his parents Peter and Karen being long-time trainers.
“When I was little I had bad eczema and asthma and if Dad came in from clipping the horses, I’d be itching for days,” he has previously said. “When I’m riding in a race now I’m not on one long enough for it to affect me, but if I’m brushing one or with them all day I’ll be sneezing, and my eyes will be watering.”
Three Card Brag came out flying and looked in with a serious chance of challenging before tailing off. “He gave me an incredible spin, but he probably was just racing quite fresh, and doing a little bit too much,” explained Bowen. “You have to be nearly lazy in these races to get home sometimes. He’s still a young horse, and probably quite fresh. And he was really enjoying his jumping, but just doing a little bit too much the whole way.”
Bowen rode his 1,000th winner in February, and was racing in the Grand National alongside his younger brother James, who was on board Chantry House, who placed 16th. Competition is stiff between the siblings. At Cheltenham in December, a dead heat was recorded between their horses. It was the first dead heat at the course for eight years.
“It’s probably never happened before and it’s unlikely to ever happen again,” said James. Both brothers say they want to eventually win the sport’s biggest race for their family. “I’ve always grown up loving the Grand National and Dad loves the Grand National. It’s something that he always said that hopefully one day he could win,” James told BBC Wales on the eve of the race.
“I’d love to win a Grand National for my family. If I did that, I think I’d have to retire because there’s not much else that can top that.”
Sean, meanwhile, explained his allergies do not affect him as much as they did when he was a child. “I still am [allergic to horses] now a little bit, it’s a bit of a weird one. If Dad would come in from clipping and there’d be horse hair everywhere, I’d be itching for days. Even now, sometimes if I spend all morning round horses, I’d be sneezing for the rest of the day.”
His parents, from Pembrokeshire, have been training horses for 30 years but James’s first love as a child was football. “I can’t say I grew up loving it. I enjoyed football until I was around 11. I started riding when I was about 10,” he said.
A third of adults in Britain placed some sort of bet on the world’s most famous steeplechase, with £150 million wagered in total. Six million tuned in for the race won by Nick Rockett in a one-two-three for trainer Willie Mullins, whose son, Patrick, was on board the winner.