Balko Des Flos Grand National Wins
Balko Des Flos has never won the Grand National.
Their best finish to date was in 2021 where they came 2nd. They were ridden by Aidan Coleman and trained by Henry De Bromhead.
Trained by Henry de Bromhead, Balko Des Flos has run in some very big races over the years and gone very close to winning a Grand National. He was second in the 2021 Grand National, at the huge price of 100/1, finishing behind Minella Times when ridden by Aidan Coleman.
Foaled in 2011, Balko Des Flos was originally a Gigginstown Stud horse and was in training with Willie Mullins. However, they moved their horses out of the yard, and that was when this horse moved to the Henry de Bromhead yard.
Now retired from racing, the horse would run in the Grand National just once, but it was an excellent run, where he would finish second. Elsewhere, he wasn’t a prolific winner but did have one massive day under the spotlight, which came in 2018, when he landed the Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
Full Results
| Year | Result | Prize Money | Handicap | Jockey | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2021 | 2 | £200,000 | 10-9 | Aidan Coleman | Henry De Bromhead |
Balko Des Flos’ Early Years’
As mentioned, the racing career of Balko Des Flos began with the Willie Mullins team, kicking things off with a couple of runs in national hunt flat races. He won them both by three lengths and five and a half lengths to show he was an above-average animal quickly.
After winning a hurdle race, he was thrown in at the deep end, contesting two Grade One races in his next two starts, with 5th and 4th placed efforts at the Cheltenham Festival and Aintree Grand National meeting.
At the end of this season, the switch to the de Bromhead yard happened, and he would go straight over fences, finishing second on debut before winning his second start by 16 lengths. He was again upped into Graded company and again fell just short, finishing third in Grade One and Grade Three contests.
Balko Des Flos Big Race Wins
The first big race win in the career of Balko Des Flos came in August 2017, when he landed the Galway Plate, one of the most competitive handicaps on the Irish racing calendar. In 2018, at the Cheltenham Festival in March, he took his form to a whole new level.
At this meeting, Balko Des Flos won the Ryanair Chase by four and a half lengths, beating Un De Sceaux into second place. Without a doubt, that was the biggest success of his career, and it would also prove to be the final win of his career, many more races came, but the horse could not get his head back in front.