won and certainly none of the 13 mares to have landed
the National had already produced a foal.
There is even a story behind her name. “It was a
mistake,” Fox-Pitt said. “We called her Sands Of Time
but my secretary registered it for British eventing rather
than racing, so when she got ready to run in a race
suddenly the trainer said to me, ‘We’ve got the wrong
passport and we can’t get that name.’
“We sat down that night and saw a programme about
a snow leopardess and she was exactly that colour,
so we thought, ‘We’ll try that name.’ ”
The filly that Snow Leopardess produced, who is
now a three-year-old, has been named along
similar lines, as Fox-Pitt explained: “I thought
Red Panda — they’re all in the same place as the
snow leopards — all in the Himalayas together.”
She is likely to be put into training with
Longsdon this autumn and could well be a
name to look out for. “We hack her out, she
jumps, she’s very like her mother,” Fox-Pitt
said. “She’ll be all right.”
The Fox-Pitts are well versed in all things
equestrian. One of Marietta’s sons is William, an
Olympic three-day eventing gold medallist, while
the ownership of Snow Leopardess has been
officially transferred to another son, Andrew,
although Marietta still appears to be very much in
charge.T
here is a story behind every Grand National
winner but should Snow Leopardess win at
Aintree today it could top them all.
Snow Leopardess will bid to become the
first mare since Nickel Coin in 1951 to win the
National. What makes her story remarkable, though, is
that she was retired to stud and produced a foal before
returning to training in 2019.
The galloping grey suffered a leg injury after winning
at Auteuil, in France, in 2017. Her owner, Marietta Fox-
Pitt, made the decision to send Snow Leopardess to
stud and Charlie Longsdon, who trains her at his base
at Chipping Norton, thought that was the last he would
see of her. “I sighed with disappointment because I
thought there’s no way she’s going to come back into
training,” Longsdon said.
“Marietta always said she was going to come back but
once they become a broodmare, they stay a broodmare
in this day and age. It’s very unusual these days. It’s
something that might have happened years and years
ago — maybe in the 1800s or early 1900s, but it doesn’t
often happen nowadays.
“She’s come back better than ever. Marietta never
had any doubt that she would come back into training.
The fact that she’s had a filly foal [means] the line
carries on. She might go back to stud next year. She’ll
go to Nathaniel [the stallion] when she does.
“You underestimate how much getting fit it takes[after having a foal]. She’d been off for two years but she
also had ‘mummy fat’. I’m slightly pathetic when
they’ve had leg injuries, I’m wary of overdoing things as
they can re-injure themselves. She did re-injure herself,
which is why she had another nine months off.
“It was only after she’d had another two runs that
she was properly fit for the first time in three years.”
Snow Leopardess is certainly fit now and seems
better than ever at the age of ten. She has won all three
starts this season, including the Becher Chase over
the famous spruce fences at Aintree in December.
She was always up with the pace that day, jumping
brilliantly, before showing a good attitude to hold
on in a tight finish.
“She likes to use her stamina and to win it
halfway through the race by stretching others and
pulling other horses out of their comfort zone,”
Longsdon, 46, said.
“I think she’s got to be ridden handy up with
the pace. There’s nothing better to watch than
a bold frontrunner, especially over those
fences. As long as she’s up there with the pace,
with a little bit of daylight, I’ll be very happy.”
Nothing in this story is run of the mill.
Longsdon started out in three-day eventing
before turning his attention to racing but, at 6ft
5in, he was never going to be a jockey.
No mare has won since 1951, no grey mare has everGRAND NATIONAL
20224 Saturday April 9 2022
the timesGalloping grey
mare aiming
for mother of
all National
success stories
No mare has won big race since 1951 and certainly
none to have produced a foal. Rob Wright asks if
Snow Leopardess can rewrite history on two counts
Snow Leopardess wins The Becher Chase, main image;
above with foal Red Panda. Right, trainer Longsdon