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

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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.