Ryan Mania

Ryan Mania (born 23 December 1989) is a British National Hunt jockey from Galashiels, most famous for winning the 2013 Grand National on the Sue Smith-trained Auroras Encore, at starting odds of 66/1.

Early life and career Mania was born in 1989, in Galashiels, Scotland to joiner Kevin and mental health worker Lesley Mania, who first sat him on a Shetland pony aged three. He began working with point-to-point horses aged 12, and rode for Peter Monteith and subsequently for Howard Johnson, before Johnson lost his trainer's licence at the end of 2011.

At this point he left jump racing to work for his local hunt, the Fife Foxhounds as whipper-in. But over the winter, he started feeling he was missing out after seeing horses running which he had ridden previously and, encouraged by his agent, Bruce Jeffrey, he returned to ride for Sue Smith.

2013 Grand National Mania had his first ride in the Grand National in 2013, and was the unexpected winner, riding 66/1 outsider Auroras Encore, and winning by nine lengths. As a 23-year-old, he was one of the youngest people to ever win the Grand National, and was also the first Scottish jockey to win the race for 117 years. It was later discovered he had fractured a vertebra at the base of his neck.

Retirement Mania announced his retirement from riding in November 2014 at the age of 25, citing problems maintaining his riding weight as the main reason and saying that he no longer got a "kick out of winning" After retiring from jump racing he worked as a kennel huntsman for the Braes of Derwent Hunt and as master huntsman for the Berwickshire hunt.

During his retirement he rode in a charity race at Aintree, the scene of his Grand National triumph, in aid of the Countryside Alliance. The first race of his comeback was aboard Fair Minx at Ayr with his mount finishing seventh of ten runners.

Mania rode Hill Sixteen at the 2023 Grand National who fell at the first fence and died almost immediately from their injuries.