If only it hadn't rained on Friday night. Oh, if only it hadn't rained. On Thursday's ground or Friday's ground, Hedgehunter would have won. But Liverpool got about an hour or so of rain on Friday night and then there was another 20 minutes or thereabouts yesterday afternoon.

I took Hedgehunter out onto the course yesterday morning just after seven o'clock and at that stage, I couldn't possibly have been happier with him.

I knew he was ready. My only concern was the ground. I went back to where I was staying to have breakfast and change, all the while praying there wouldn't be any more rain.

I wrote here last week that the weight wasn't necessarily crippling.

But the rain overnight just softened it up a touch more than my horse could take.

The squalls that came down just after lunch time meant that the going ended up soft. Just what Hedgehunter didn't need.

I was fairly sure three fences out that it wasn't going to happen. Myself and AP McCoy were talking to each other the whole way around and when my horse, Clan Royal and Numbersixvalverde got to the last, the race was in the balance.

But I missed it, Slippers flew it and I turned to McCoy and said, "The danger's on the outside, it isn't me." He was agreeing with me.

That was that after the third from home. My only hope then was for Numbersixvalverde to stop in front or to make a mistake. But I've ridden that horse before and I knew well that he was going to run and run and run.

Heart-broken though I am, I couldn't be happier for Slippers Madden and Martin Brassil. Slippers is a good friend of mine and he's a jockey that needed a boost, who hadn't had a lot of luck since he turned pro. Martin runs a small yard and for him to train a horse to come here and win the Grand National is an amazing achievement.

I had other good rides yesterday. Be Be King was in with a chance but McCoy's horse Refinement just had too much for him in the end. But in the race before that, the Aintree hurdle, I had one that was just as classy.

Asian Maze is a hell of a mare. I think yesterday justified the decision to send her in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham because the plan we had for her yesterday was exactly the same as the one we sent her out in that race with. She loves running on at the front of the field so I let her away at it. The only difference was this time she didn't have any trouble with the hurdles.

I never had a doubt about her the whole way round. The other thing in her favour was that it was the perfect trip. I actually think she would have been in trouble if the race was over two miles at Aintree but two and a half is ideal. I saw Hardy Eustace starting a bit of a challenge as we came to the last but I was never really worried. I really think she could be a Champion Hurdle contender next year.

That's for another day, though. For now, I'm just going to have to go and sit in a quiet corner and come to terms with coming second in the Grand National. I know people will tell me to keep my chin up and that Hedgehunter couldn't have done any more. And they're right, I know they're right.

But chances of two Grand Nationals in a row don't come around very often.