Caughoo

The horse Caughoo would win the Grand National on one occasion, from a total of three attempts, and in the other two, he wasn’t able to finish.

However, there’s plenty more to the story of this horse, and in terms of strange little quirky stories around him, he is up there with the best of them.

The Grand National he won was the 1947 edition of the race, and the first quirky story is his price. An Irish-trained runner, the truth is that many English punters simply didn’t know much about him, this was his first trip over to England.

Unfancied in the market, he was returned with a winning SP of 100/1, adding his name to the list of rare runners who would win the race at triple-figure odds. He would come home way in front of the other runners, with the official winning distance being recorded at 20 lengths.

The horse, jockey and trainer would all be going to Aintree for the very first time when winning this race, a completely inexperienced team, and this was another reason why the horse would have such a big SP, no one knew any of the team.

Jockey Eddie Dempsey was successful on the point to point circuit but had struggled since taking out his professional license. It was so bad for Dempsey, that another quirky story is that he was three years without a win on a horse before landing the Grand National, not a bad way to snap the winless run!

Beach Training Gives Caughoo Fitness Advantage

The weather in the build-up to the 1947 Grand National was pretty terrible all over the UK and Ireland.

Many race meetings were cancelled, and horses were unable to either race on the track or retain their fitness at home as the snow lay on the ground for many weeks. This rare build up was definitely something that gave Caughoo an advantage.

The reason being, because he was trained near the coast, and would do a large part of his training on the beach. Of course, this was clear soon after the snow fell, so in terms of working at home, his preparation was hardly disrupted at all.

He didn’t have a prep run, like all the rest, but in terms of homework, he was doing just as much as he normally would, and that gave him a huge advantage over almost all the rest of the field.

Did Caughoo Complete the Course in 1947?

This is one of my favourite Grand National stories of all time. Now, firstly, just to avoid any confusion, the story is false, and there’s photo evidence to prove that the allegation was a false one, so Caughoo definitely did complete the course and win the Grand National fairly.

However, after the race, Dan McCann, who was riding Lough Conn in the race, the horse who finished second, made a wild allegation about Caughoo.

He alleged that the horse did not take part in the race during the first circuit. With heavy mist over the track, visibility was very poor. McCann alleged that Caughoo hid in the mist under jockey Eddie Dempsey. Instead of going around, he waited and then joined in when the horses got back to him at the start of the second circuit.

The idea of this masterplan actually being true adds a bizarre element to the tail of Caughoo’s National win, but it has been proven that the allegation was false.

Not only that, but the horse even returned to Aintree 50 years later… or at least, part of him did. Apparently, and this is not proven, Caughoos head was preserved by a taxidermist and taken back to Aintree on the 50th anniversary of his big win to er… celebrate I suppose.

Caughoo’s Big Race Wins

The Grand National win in 1947 was without a doubt the biggest win of Caughoo’s career, and it was actually the reason this horse was bought by his owner, confirmed at the time of his win.

John McDowell was the winning owner, and when speaking after the race, he confirmed that he had bought the horse for £50, and the reason he was bought was to come over to Aintree for the Grand National.

Elsewhere, the horse made a name for himself in Ireland by winning the Ulster National at Downpatrick racecourse. He would go on to land this stamina test twice in total, winning the race first in 1945 before following up and landing the race again in 1946.

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