Category: Grand National

Who are the only current trainers to have won the Grand National more than once?

The record for training the most Grand National winners is held, jointly, by George Dockeray, Fred Rimell and Donald ‘Ginger’ McCain, who all saddled four winners apiece. Of course, all three of them are deceased and, of current, active trainers, just two have saddled more than one Grand National winner.

The first of them was Nigel Twiston-Davies who, in 1998, saddled the Welsh Grand National winner Earth Summit to victory at Aintree and, four years later, repeated the feat with Bindaree. Indeed, his second victory in the Grand National renewed his zest for National Hunt racing at a time when he was winding down his training career. After a poor season, in which he would eventually saddle just 35 winners – his lowest seasonal total for a decade – Twiston-Davies was adamant he was retiring. Even the day after Bindaree won the National, he said, ‘I never ever wanted to be a trainer. That happened by accident. So I wouldn’t be giving up a career I always wanted to do.’ However, by his own admission, ‘…Bindaree changed everything.’

The second current trainer who has won the Grand National more than once is Gordon Elliott, who has recently returned from a six-month ban for bringing the sport of horse racing into disrepute. Elliott’s faux pas has been well chronicled elsewhere, but he became the youngest ever trainer of a National winner when saddling Silver Birch to victory in 2007 and added wins two and three with back-to-back victories for Tiger Roll in 2018 and 2019.

Who founded Aintree?

Of course, nowadays, Aintree Racecourse is synonymous with the most famous steeplechase in the world, the Grand National. However, the race that became the Grand National, the ‘Grand Liverpool Steeplechase’, was not run for the first time until February, 1836, nearly seven years after Aintree staged its inaugural Flat meeting in July, 1829.

Horse racing at Aintree was the brainchild of local hotelier and sports promoter, William Lynn who, in 1829, approached William Molyneux, Second Earl of Sefton with a view to leasing the land on which the racecourse now stands. Molyneux sanctioned the use of his land for horse racing and, following the construction of a grandstand, the first race, the Croxteth Stakes, was run on July 7 the same year.

The venture proved highly successful and supported, financially, by Molyneux, the Jockey Club and others, Aintree Racecourse flourished. National Hunt racing was introduced in 1835 – although the National Hunt Committee would not be formed until three decades later – and the following year, drawing inspiration from an existing race, the Great St. Albans Steeplechase, Lynn staged his own version. The Grand Liverpool Steeplechase was still known by its original title until 1947, when it was renamed the Grand National, but the word ‘national’ was first used in connection with the 1839 renewal, which is now generally considered the first ‘official’ running of the Grand National.

Has Donald McCain Jnr. won the Grand National?

As far as the Grand National is concerned, the name ‘McCain’ will always be most closely associated with the late Donald ‘Ginger’ McCain, who saddled the legendary Red Rum to three victories, in 1973, 1974 and 1977. In 2004, with his glory days seemingly far behind him, McCain saddled Amberleigh House to win the Grand National for a fourth time, thereby joining George Dockeray and Fred Rimmell as jointly the most successful trainer in the history of the Aintree showpiece. McCain saddled his final National runners in 2006 and retired from the training ranks, turning over the licence at his stables, on the Cholmondley Castle Estate in Cheshire, to his son, Donald Jnr..

McCain Jnr. Did not make an immediate impact at Aintree, although he did saddle Cloudy Lane, owned by Trevor Hemmings, to finish sixth in the National in 2008 and eighth two years later. However, on an unseasonably hot day in April, 2011, McCain Jnr. followed his father – who watched on, calmly, but proudly, from the paddock – into Aintree folklore by winning the Grand National with Ballabriggs. Also owned by Trevor Hemmings, and ridden by Jason Maguire, Ballabriggs withstood a strong challenge from Oscar Time on the run-in, staying on well to win by 2¼ lengths, with defending champion Don’t Push It a further 12 lengths away in third place.

Will Tiger Roll attempt to win a third Grand National?

Although perhaps not quite a household name, Tiger Roll requires little or no introduction. For the uninitiated, in 2019 Tiger Roll became the first horse since Red Rum, in 1974, to win back-to-back renewals of the Grand National. The diminutive horse, who stands just 15.2 hands high and was once described as ‘a little rat of a thing’ by owner Michael O’Leary, was denied the chance to complete an unprecedented hat-trick when the Grand National was cancelled, due to the Covid-19 pandemic, in 2020.

In 2021, the Grand National returned, but O’Leary took exception to the handicap mark of 166 awarded to Tiger Roll by British Horseracing Authority (BHA) handicapper, Martin Greenwood, and withdrew his horse several weeks before the race. Nevertheless, Tiger Roll headed to the Cheltenham Festival for what had previously been his preparatory race for the Grand National, the Glenfarclas Cross Country Chase. He won, easily, reversing previous form with 2020 winner, Easyland, to the tune of 35 lengths, leaving O’Leary keen on the idea of a return to Aintree for the Grand National in 2022. He said, ‘Red Rum was dropped 7lb as a 12-year-old. Hopefully, Tiger will get the chance to go back to Aintree.’At the time of writing, Tiger Roll is a top-priced 33/1 to emulate Red Rum and win his third Grand National in five years.

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