Shetland Grand National

The Shetland Pony Grand National is a team of Shetland ponies and jockeys that race all over the country raising money for charity.

This year’s charity is the Bob Champion Cancer Trust and all the money we raise will be going to cancer research.

Bob Champion, for those who can remember, overcame cancer and went on to win the Grand National in 1981 on the great Aldaniti.

Shortly after winning the race, Bob formed the Bob Champion Cancer Trust and so far he has raised over £16 million.

In 2024 the Shetland Pony Grand National raised a fantastic amount of just over £42,000 for the Bob Champion Cancer Trust.  The total raised to date by SPGN for the Bob Champion Cancer Trust totals over £250,000.

All the jockeys who take part are trying to gain one of the 10 places at the world famous ‘The London International Horse Show’ at Excel which takes in December, just before Christmas.

All the children taking part have to be aged between 8 and 14 years old and must be less than 5 ft in height.  All the ponies taking part have to be registered with the Shetland Pony Stud Book.

The Shetland Pony Grand National is a great  introduction for the children who want to make a career in racing whether it is to become a professional or amateur jockey.

A number of professional jockeys such as Sam Twiston-Davis, Tom Garner, Joe Akehurst, Freddie & Jack Mitchell, Charlie Bennett, George Wood, Charlie Todd, Saffie Osbourne, Olive Nicholls, Freddie Keighley started their racing career with the Shetland Pony Grand National.  Our greatest achievement would be Jim Crowley who was crowned champion Flat Jockey in 2016.

Our displays last approximately 30 minutes per session and we normally run 2 races with a final, making a total of three races per session.