Grand National glory for Shropshire

The mobile phone of John Hales beeps. Again.

It has become a familiar sound over the last 48 hours.

Even now, two days on from what many would perceive to be the pinnacle of the Shropshire businessman's career in racehorse ownership, the congratulatory messages continue to flood in following Neptune Collonges' famous Grand National triumph.

"I left my phone at home on Saturday by mistake so I had to catch up with all the messages when I got back to Shropshire on the night," said the 72-year-old owner of Golden Bear of Cosford.

"Twice, the phone said that it couldn't take any more messages.

"I would delete 20 messages and another 20 would appear and it kept going like that.

"I've had text messages from all over the world. Australia were watching it, China were. I wouldn't even like to guess what the worldwide audience was."

It was gone 11pm before Mr Hales and his entourage returned to Shropshire on Saturday night, fresh from the most thrilling Grand National's finish of all time and a post-race party at a hotel in Warrington.

A handful of re-runs of the famous triumph of 'Nippy', as the 11-year-old grey is affectionately known, were watched before the jubilant owner retired to bed on Saturday night.

It had been an emotionally draining day and yet still Mr Hales and wife Pat rose early on Sunday, no doubt surviving on a cocktail of glory and adrenaline.

This is what it is like to win the greatest steeplechase of them all.

The path to glory has been a 20-year journey for Mr Hales, his first tentative steps into the Sport of Kings taken thanks to a change of heart in the Caribbean in 1992.

"We had saved some money and were going to buy a little apartment in the south of France," he explained.

"We went to Treasure Beach, which is one of our favourite hotels in Barbados, and which was owned by a very good friend of mine, John Moreton.

"He sent me a message yesterday to say congratulations and he should know how it feels because his horse, Rhyme 'N' Reason, won the National in 1988.

"Back then, he told me I should own a racehorse.

"He said you have £300,000 saved up – why don't you put £200,000 in the bank and spend £100,000 on two horses?

"That's what we did. We brought a horse called The Toyman who was killed jumping his first fence at Bangor and that was a very tough start.

"The other was One Man and if he hadn't turned out the way he did, I probably wouldn't have got involved in racing. He sparked everything off."

The philosophy of Team Hales in horse purchases has always been quality over quantity, and One Man's experiences provided a snapshot of the family's peaks and troughs.

The glory came courtesy of the classy grey's memorable victories in some of Britain's biggest National Hunt races, twice landing the King George VI Chase at Cheltenham on Boxing Day while he was also a winner of the Queen Mother Champion Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.

But tragedy struck at Aintree in 1998 when One Man suffered a fatal fall in a support race to the National

It was a moment which left deep scars on the horse-loving family, and even 14 years on, Pat and the couple's daughter Lisa pleaded with husband and father not to risk a potential repeat by running Neptune Collonges on Saturday.

Thankfully, their pre-race fears turned to unbridled joy.

Afterwards, the horse returned to his stables to a hero's welcome. Racing fans from across England flocked to the Somerset village of Ditcheat, home to trainer Paul Nicholls, for the traditional winner's parade yesterday afternoon.

Owner Hales and his family took a helicopter to the West Country to mark the 11-year-old grey's victory by a nose from runner-up Sunnyhillboy in Saturday's thrilling race at Aintree.

"There were literally hundreds there and Paul said he had never seen that many people turned out," said Lisa.

"People had come from as far afield as Birmingham and Sussex to see Neptune and it was really special."

The horse took several tours around the small well-heeled village.

Roads and lanes in every direction were filled with parked cars and people straining to get a glimpse of the champion.

Others patted winning jockey Daryl Jacob on the back and took his picture. Mr Jacob, who was all smiles, said: "I am absolutely delighted. This is a great horse who galloped from fence to fence.

"A lot of Paul's horses are very very fit and strong and that has paid off. It is fantastic."

The victory parade followed a night of revelry – with more than 40 bottles of champagne being sold in the village pub.

Neptune Collonges' victory on Saturday provided another chapter in the success story for both horse and owner.

And the Grand National glory also brought £547,267 in prize money. The grandchildren of owner John Hales were also flush after having a flutter on the winning horse. Oliver, Joshua and Harry – 18, 14 and 11 respectively – spent the day working at the fisheries of John's son Robert.

Their reward was £20 each, which the trio of youngsters agreed to re-invest on their grandfather's horse in the national. Victory saw them pocket £560 each.

For John Hales it was a whirlwind weekend. He may not celebrate the 50th anniversary of his wedding to Pat until 2013, but this already looks like being a golden year. The Hales' equine interest doesn't end on the racecourse, former Olympic aces Arko III and Russell spearheading a strong showjumping contingent.

It all helps provide an escape from the day-to-day business life stresses.

For even now, well past retirement age, Mr Hales remains a hands-on leader at the offices of Golden Bear, a toy manufacturing company.

It was formed in 1979 after the Birmingham-born son of an electrician completed National Service with the RAF before joining Chad Valley Toys at the age of 21.

Elevation to managing director at Chad Valley was sealed 14 years later before Mr Hales teamed up with former colleague Christine Nicholls to launch Golden Bear.

More than three decades on and the company – based at Hortonwood in Telford – continues to thrive and looks set for another hugely successful period having been selected to produce soft toys of the official mascots of the London Olympics.

Hales formed Golden Bear Products with Christine Nicholls with a mission to provide well designed quality products that exceeded their customer's expectations.

Today, with over 25 years of successful trading behind them, Golden Bear is one of the UK's leading manufacturers of quality and reliable toy products and continues to adhere to this mission.

Golden Bear operates from headquarters in Telford. The five-acre site houses not only the Golden Bear offices but also a modern warehouse and distribution facility of 74,000 sq. ft. The company has enjoyed an Olympic bounce, after being asked to make soft toys of Wenlock, the London 2012 Olympic mascot, and Mandeville, the Paralympic mascot, through factories in China.

It also produces Pride the Lion, the official Team GB mascot, and a special Wenlock in red, white and blue to take advantage of an expected wave of patriotism in the UK.

As a direct result of its Olympics work, the privately owned Telford-based company landed a lucrative deal with BMW, one of the games' official sponsors, to make a toy Mini, the British brand now owned by the German carmaker.

Mr Hales said: "That only happened because of the Olympics." His company has previously produced toys of children's TV characters Shaun the Sheep, Bob the Builder and the Teletubbies.

James Garrison