The Irish in the Grand National
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Darren_W_Chow]Darren W Chow

The Grand National is one of the most famous steeplechases in the world, and it was two Irish fox-hunting men, Edmund Blake and Cornelius O’Callaghan who came up with the name ‘steeplechase’ in 1752. They did this by running from steeple to steeple in Co. Cork, so it is fitting that Ireland have the greatest ‘foreign’ impact on the Grand National, a race that is run over approximately the same distance as the original steeplechase from St John’s Church in Buttevant to St Mary’s Church at Doneraile. So great is the Irish influence, that the Grand National has become a distinctly Anglo-Irish festivity.

The Irish have been competing in the race since it was first run in 1839, with owner Tony Ferguson bringing over three horses to compete that year – Daxon, Rust and Barkson. Ferguson himself rode Daxon, but fell as did Barkson, but Rust proved such a worthy contender that the course was invaded by opposing punters who brought him to a halt. Needless to say, it didn’t put the Irish off – the following year half of the contenders were Irish with one of them giving name to the second brook – Valentine, so good was his handling of it.

In 1847 the Irish won the Grand National for the first time, with Matthew, a joint 10-1 favourite. Three years later they won again with Abd-El-Kader who went on to become the first horse to win successive Nationals. Since then, even though many are English trained and owned, the majority of National winners have been bred in Ireland – including Red Rum, the Nationals only triple champion; Golden Miller, who is the only horse to have won both the National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup in the same year; Cloister, twice runner up before winning by a record 40 lengths even though he weighed in at a huge 12st 7lb; Manifesto, who ran in a record eight Grand Nationals, winning two, coming third twice, and fourth once.

As well as excellent horses, Ireland has also produced brilliant trainers and jockeys with Henry Eyre Linde, Willie Garrett and Michael Vincent O’ Brien to name but a few of the former group. Things stepped up a notch for Irish born jockeys when four brothers – the Beasleys, rode in the National in the same year – 1879. None of them won that year, another Irishman did, but it didn’t stop them coming back again and again with Tommy winning in 1880, 1881 and 1889 and Harry winning as rider and trainer in 1891.

Since 1995 no fewer than ten of thirteen National winners have been ridden by Irishmen, and they are recognised as a dominant force in the National Hunt. 2006 saw a record number of Irish horses entered for the National – thirty eight. Twentyone made it to the 40 runner line-up, and they took first, second and fourth places , while the third and fifth finishers, though England-based, were both owned and trained by Irishmen, JP McManus and Jonjo O’Neill. http://www.grand-national.me.uk gives you unrivaled coverage of the Grand National horse race.

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Cheltenham Gold Cup Horse Race
By [http://ezinearticles.com/?expert=Darren_W_Chow]Darren W Chow

The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a three mile, two and a half furlong race with a horrible 237 yard uphill finish. It started in 1924 and was then considered to be no more than a form guide and trial for the Grand National. The reason for this was mostly due to the prizes – the Cheltenham Cup winner received £685, while the winner of the National got a whopping £8,240.

It has always been that horses who did well in the Cup tended to go on to the Grand National but there has been some derision about the correlation between how a horse running in the Gold Cup may fare when handicapped in the National. There is also the issue of the severity of the National so soon after the challenge of the Gold Cup – there are just three weeks between the races, and sometimes due to Easter, they can occur but 15 days apart. Furthermore the National weights are framed before the Gold Cup, so the horses form at Cheltenham doesn’t get taken into account during handicapping. In 1999 Double Thriller was made a well-backed favourite for the National after coming fourth in the Gold Cup.

It was very evident for all to see that if the handicapper could have taken into account his Gold Cup run he would have allotted him at least a stone more than his 10 stone 8 pounds. The National occurred 23 days after the Cheltenham race and he fell at the first fence. Again in 2002 the National included three horses who had run in the Gold Cup – Marlborough, What’s Up Boys and Alexander Banquet. All three were among the top four in the weights at Aintree: Marlborough weighing in at 11st 12lbs, Alexander Banquet 11st 11lbs and What’s Up Boys 11st 6lbs. Marlborough fell at the first, Alexander Banquet fell at the sixth and What’s up Boys finished runner up by just one and a quarter lengths. This really is amazing considering no horse had carried more than 11 stone to win since Corbiere at 11st 4 lbs twenty years previously.

The days have long gone since the Cheltenham Gold Cup has been regarded as a warm up for the Grand National. In fact it is now a race of very high regard and horses who win it are rarely risked in the turbulence of the race that is the Grand National. In 2003 it was noted that the six finishers in the National had missed out Cheltenham as they were being specially targeted for the Aintree race.

In the past decade only two horses have won the Grand National after running at Cheltenham – Bindaree in 2002 and Silver Birch in 2007, but Silver Birch’s victory may have been due to the fact that there was a four week gap between the races. Only one horse has won the Gold Cup and the National in the same season, but six jockeys have managed it: Tommy Cullinan, Gerry Wilson, Fred Winter, Tommy Carberry, John Burke and Jim Culloty.

The Cheltenham racing festival is one of the biggest horse racing events in the United Kingdom. The [http://www.cheltenham-races.com]Cheltenham Races is second only to the Grand National in it’s popular appeal.

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