How many times did Katie Walsh ride in the Grand National?

Born on December 18, 1984, in Co. Kildare, Katie Walsh is, of course, the youngest daughter of trainer Ted Walsh and the younger sister of twelve-time Irish Champion National Hunt Jockey Rupert ‘Ruby’ Walsh. She retired from race riding on April 27, 2018, aged 34, immediately after winning at the Punchestown Festival on Antey, trained by Wille Mullins, but, for the better part of 15 years, was a trailblazing amateur jockey, who rode a total of 189 winners in Britain and Ireland, including three at the Cheltenham Festival.

Indeed, alongside sister-in-law Nina Carberry, who is married to Ted Walsh Jr., Katie Walsh still jointly holds the record for the number of rides by a female jockey in the Grand National, having contested the Aintree marathon six times.The pick of her placings and, at the time, the highest placing ever achieved by a female rider, came of her first attempt in 2012. On that occasion, she rode Seabass, trained by her father, who was sent off 8/1 joint-favourite and looked, briefly, like he might win. The 9-year-old led over the final fence, but was joined, and passed, on the run-in, eventually finishing third, beaten a nose and five lengths.

The partnership tried again in 2013, with Seabass sent off clear 11/2 favourite, despite being 5lb higher in the weights than the previous year. He was driven along from the third-last fence, but soon weakened out contention, finishing in thirteenth place, 85¾ lengths behind the surprise winner Auroras Encore. The following year, Katie Walsh finished in the same position on Vesper Bell, trained by Willie Mullins and, in 2015, suffered her one and only non-completion in the National, when unseated by Ballycasey, also trained by Mullins, at the penultimate fence. Thereafter, she finished nineteenth, and last, on Wonderful Charm, trained by Paul Nicholls, in 2017 and twelfth on

Baie Des Iles, trained by her husband, Ross O’Sullivan, in 2018, but both horses were completely tailed off.

 

Katie Walsh’s twitter account: https://twitter.com/katiewalsh9

How many horses have won the Grand National more than once?

  • Posted on January 15, 2025
  • /Under Horses

How many horses have won the Grand National more than once? Of course, the most successful horse in the recent history of the Grand National was Tiger Roll, who won back-to-back renewals of the world famous steeplechase in 2018 and 2019, but was denied the chance of a third win by the coronavirus pandemic, in 2020, and by his owner, Michael O’Leary, in 2021 and 2022. Readers of a certain age may also remember – and everyone will almost certainly have heard of – Red Rum, who won the Grand National an unprecedented three times, in 1973, 1974, and 1977.

However, the names of the other multiple winners of the Grand National – of which there are six, seven or eight, depending on the ground rules applied – are probably less familiar. To clarify, The Duke won the first two runnings of the Grand Liverpool Steeplechase, in 1836 and 1837, but the races were subsequently stricken, some historians say erroneously, from the ‘official’ Grand National records. Likewise, Poethyln won the so-called ‘War National’, staged at Gatwick in 1918, and won again when the Grand National returned to Aintree in 1919.

As far as ‘official’ renewals of the Grand National at Aintree are concerned, the first dual winner was Abd-El-Kader, in 1850 and 1851. He was followed by Peter Simple, who had won the Grand National for the first time in 1849, but returned four years later, as a doughty 15-year-old, to do so again. Thereafter, The Lamb (1868 and 1871) and The Colonel (1869 and 1870) won four renewals between them in as many years and, towards the end of the century, the indefatigable Manifesto – who ran in the Grand National a record eight times between 1895 and 1904 – prevailed twice, in 1897 and 1899. Before Red Rum, the last horse to win the Grand National more than once was Reynoldstown, who recorded back-to-back victories in 1935 and 1936; the legendary Golden Miller failed to complete the course on both occasions.

Who were the youngest horse and jockey to win the Grand National?

Who were the youngest horse and jockey to win the Grand National? As the best-known steeplechase in the world, with an estimated worldwide audience of 500 million, the Grand National requires little or no introduction. However, it is worth noting that, in recent years, the annual Aintree showpiece has undergone a raft of safety-related changes, not only to the Grand National Course, but also to the race conditions. Among other eligibility criteria, Grand National entries must now be at least seven years old, while jockeys must have ridden at least 15 winners under the Rules of Racing, including at least 10 in steeplechases.

Consequently, unless the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has a major change of heart at some point in the future, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the records for the youngest horse and the youngest jockey to win the Grand National could never be broken. As it stands, the record for the youngest horse to win is held, jointly, by five five-year-olds, namely Alcibiade (1865), Regal (1876), Austerlitz (1877), Empress (1880) and Lutteur III (1909). For the record, the last six-year-old to win the National was Ally Sloper in 1915 and the last seven-year-old to win was Bogskar in 1940.

The record for the youngest jockey to win the Grand National is still held by Bruce Robertson Hobbs, who was 17 years, 2 months and 27 days old when, on March 25, 1938, he partnered Battleship, trained by his father, Reg, to victory in a driving finish. Hobbs owed his victory, in part, to a push on the backside from fellow jockey Fred Rimmell, which prevented him from being unseated at the seventh fence, now known as ‘Foinavon’. Battleship, for his part, was derisorily dismissed by the ‘Sporting Life’ of the day because of his diminuitive size, but he did, indeed, become ‘the smallest winner in history’.