Ilex

Ilex would run in the Grand National a total of three times, and not only would he win the race, but his record elsewhere was strong. He would win at the first attempt, before finishing in third place for the two years after that.

Another element of the story of this horse was the success for Ireland. He was Irish-trained, and while they didn’t have a lot of Grand National challengers, they had a few. But with those came little success. At the time, Ilex was the first Irish-trained Grand National winner since 1858. It was a big day for Irish racing.

Ilex was strongly fancied when heading into his first Grand National, despite not having experience in the race, and also having a pretty small frame, but neither of those would be enough to stop him.

In the closing stages of the contest, as others began to tire and fade away, Ilex would keep going, toughing it out better than those around him. He would battle all the way to the line and pick up the win by a distance of around two lengths.

Going off as favourite left him popular with those in attendance, and he led home the six horses who were able to complete the course.

The horse would be back for the next two years at Aintree, again running very well, but not able to match his winning run.

However, purely based on paper, you could argue that the two runs that came after were better than his win. He would finish third in both but carried around two stone more in weight on his back in those races, penalised by the handicapper for his Grand National win.

A talented, tough horse, with an excellent Grand National record to his name, with one win and two third-place finishes.

Full Results