The horse that no-one wanted to buy could give Shropshire a mighty slice of John Smith’s Grand National glory at Aintree on Saturday.

And all those who have backed him, including his Church Stretton breeder Richard Wilding, will be shouting “Thanks, Big Fella” if Big Fella Thanks gives trainer Paul Nicholls his first National winner.

It will mean farmer Wilding has hit the big time in terms of breeding horses and put his small operation firmly on the map.

The breeder of the Grand National winner wins £10,000 as well as receiving a trophy from Aintree.

Yet Wilding revealed: “When he went to the sales as a foal, he was led out of the ring un-sold.

“No-one wanted to buy him and a year later, if there had not been enough room on a friend’s lorry taking horses to sell in Ireland, he might never have reached the heights he can scale on Saturday.”

Big Fella Thanks is a son of Primitive Rising out of Nunsdream, a mare that Wilding still has on his farm at Ragdon on the outskirts of Church Stretton.

Wilding said: “I took him to the Doncaster Sales as a foal but no-one wanted to buy him. I brought him home. He stayed with me for a year and I happened to be talking to Richard Kent about him and he told me he was going to Ireland to sell horses and offered to take Big Fella Thanks.

“So I agreed and I really did not have any sum of money on my mind for him.”

Tom Costello, a legend in the Horse trade in Ireland, obviously saw his potential and bought him.

He won a point-to-point in Ireland and was then sold to Paul Barber, and Wilding added: “When I saw Paul I asked what attracted him to Big Fella Thanks. And he just said he liked him the moment he saw him.”