text: They came to see the great AP McCoy deliver the Hollywood ending to his record-breaking career, but instead it was left to a jockey previously regarded as a popular journeyman to secure his place in Aintree folklore by winning the Crabbie’s Grand National. Having won last year’s race on Pineau De Re, 38-year-old Leighton Aspell, who once walked away from the sport for 18 months after becoming disillusioned, became the first rider since Bryan Marshall, who won on Royal Tan and Early Mist in 1953 and 1954, to land the biggest jumps race of the year in successive years on different horses. How grateful he is now that that spell away recharged his batteries. Many Clouds was a third winner of the race for owner Trevor Hemmings. The man who owns both Blackpool Tower and Preston North End has also won the race with Hedgehunter in 2005 and Ballabriggs in 2011. Many Clouds, ridden by Leighton Aspell, jumps a fence on the way to winning the Grand National at Aintree . AP McCoy on Shutthefrontdoor (left) congratulates Aspell after Many Clouds' victory on Saturday . While the gelding, whose participation in the race had been in doubt after his disappointing sixth in the Cheltenham Gold Cup last month, also provided a massive change of National luck for his Lambourn trainer Oliver Sherwood. None of his four previous runners in the race had managed to complete the course and two of them — 1988 favourite Sacred Path and Eric’s Charm in 2010 — had fallen at the first fence. Many Clouds passed the line one-and-three-quarter lengths in front of Tom George-trained 33-1 shot Saint Are, with 40-1 chance Monbeg Dude running a massive race in third for his trainer Michael Scudamore and his trio of former international rugby-playing owners Mike Tindall, James Simpson- Daniel and Nicky Robinson. In fourth for the second year running was Fergal O’Brien’s Alvarado, whose finishing position meant jockey Paul Moloney has remarkably been placed seven times in the race. But he never had a chance to lay a glove on Aspell and Many Clouds, who had struck for home well before the home straight. One of the first to congratulate the winning jockey was McCoy. Aspell said: ‘He is as good in defeat as he is when he is winning. I think the only people here happy he has been beaten are me and Andrew Cooper [the supremo at Sandown where McCoy will now end his career on April 25]. I can’t imagine what this place would have been like if he had won. ‘Last year I had to work hard at certain points of the race and I was a very tired man at the end but this time it was very smooth.’ Winning jockey Aspell holds up the Grand National trophy as the 38-year-old celebrates a famous victory . Many Clouds won the National for trainer Oliver Sherwood (centre) and last year's winning jockey Aspell . If Aspell was not fatigued, his mount certainly was and Many Clouds had to be dismounted on the track on welfare grounds to aid a speedy recovery in the wash-down area. He was later paraded in front of the grandstands after the final race of the day. Resurgent trainer Sherwood, whose wife Tarnya rode Numerate and pulled up in the 1989 race, added: ‘He was foot-perfect, I don’t think that he made a mistake. ‘I thought that the race was a year too soon and Trevor knows that. It was his decision to run. ‘It wasn’t my decision, so he must get all the credit, not me. I am in cloud cuckoo land.’ “To this day, I don’t know what happened in the Gold Cup - he didn’t run his race. ‘Something wasn’t right that day, maybe he got out of bed the wrong side. ‘I have done nothing with him since the Gold Cup, just literally one school and he hasn’t seen a National fence on purpose. All we have done just to freshen him up.’ Nineteen of the 39 starters finished the race and all horses emerged unscathed, although Balthazar King was still under veterinary observation last night after a heavy fall at the first Canal Turn which caused the fence to be bypassed by the field on the second circuit. Aspell, riding  Many Clouds (right), goes toe-to-toe with second placed Saint Are (centre) along the final straight . Last year's winning jockey Aspell celebrates his victory as Many Clouds slows to a halt after the race . Early exits included Al Co, one of three to get no further than the first fence, and Unioniste, who fell at the fifth. If there was an unlucky horse in the race it had to be The Druids Nephew, who was bowling along powerfully in the lead under Aidan Coleman when falling at the 26th fence. By then the writing was on the wall for well-backed 8-1 shot Rocky Creek, who faded into 17th, and last year’s winner Pineau de Re, this time ridden to 12th place by Daryl Jacob. But there still seemed a big chance of glory for McCoy, who had positioned Shutthefrontdoor close behind the leaders throughout. McCoy said: ‘He ran a blinder. I was delighted with him. He was just a little fresh and didn’t get home.’ The Aintree course, packed to the rafters with 72,000 fans, has been the backdrop to some remarkable stories in its long history and many had arrived in this suburb of Liverpool with both hope and expectations of witnessing a piece of sporting folklore unfolding. Winning horse Many Clouds is doused with water shortly after winning the Grand National in Liverpool . Many Clouds (far right) leaps over the water jump during the Grand National at Aintree on Saturday afternoon . The mass plunge predicted by the bookmakers on McCoy’s mount didn’t quite materialise and his failure to secure the 4,348th victory of his career on the Jonjo O’Neill-trained 6-1 favourite saved the bookmakers up to £50 million.They had predicted successful McCoy and Shuthefrontdoor, carrying the money of thousands of once-a-year punters would cost them in the region of £50million. There had even been speculation that some firms might have been so dented by the avalanche of bets on the retiring hero that they will have to issue profit warning come Monday morning. Instead of profit warnings being issued on Monday morning, the sound of popping champagne corks will be echoing around boardrooms. Dave Stevens of Coral said: ‘The victory of Many Clouds would certainly have been cheered by some punters, but we have absolutely no complaints about the result, and would place it in the “very good” category.’ A disappointed McCoy after finishing fifth in his final Grand National before retiring . McCoy opens the newly named McCoy's bar before the race on Saturday . Before racing, McCoy, inducted into the Aintree Hall of Fame on Thursday, had been honoured when the bar created out of the old weighing room was renamed in his honour. On Saturday may not have gone to script but, for years to come in McCoy’s, they will toast the patron saint of punters and his never-say-die attitude. Plenty would argue his achievements make him worthy of mention in the same breath as the great Australian batsman Sir Don Bradman, who, back in 1948, needed to score only four runs in his final Test innings to end with a batting average of 100. He was out for a second-ball duck — an example of just how hard it is to script the perfect denouement. Driving away from Aintree last night, the great McCoy will have known exactly how The Don must have felt.
target: Cloud Nine ridden by Leighton Aspell won the Grand National at Aintree .
  AP McCoy finished fifth on Shutthefrontdoor in his final ever National .
  Aspell has won two years running after 2014 success on Pineau De Re .
  Saint Are finished second while Monbeg Dude made up the top three .
  Aspell said McCoy is as good in defeat as he is when he is winning .