L'Escargot

L’Escargot was an Irish bred racehorse, who would have a slightly different career with the fact that he spent time racing in both the UK and USA. He was named as the US Champion Steeplechaser, while he won two of the biggest races on the UK racing calendar, a real all-rounder.

Dan Moore would be his trainer and would be in charge of the horse on all four occasions when he ran in the Grand National. Tommy Carberry was his regular rider and would also be with the horse in all four Grand National attempts.

He would claim victory in the Grand National in 1975, and that came at the fourth time of asking. Had he not won the race, then he would surely have gone down as one of the unluckiest runners, coming close in the years before winning.

A Grand National debut in 1972 saw him knocked over at the third fence and taken out of the race. But then he would finish 3^rd in 1973 and 2^nd in 1974, both coming behind a legend of the race, Red Rum.

However, in 1975, he would get his reward and get the better of Red Rum, preventing him from landing the straight hat trick of wins at the time. Sent off as the second favourite behind Red Rum, who had the money of almost an entire nation on his shoulders, L’Escargot got the better of the dual and won the Grand National by 15 lengths.

In many ways, the win in 1975 would make L’Escargot a bit of a pantomime villain, preventing Red Rum, who was a national icon at the time, from landing his third successive Grand National win. But this horse was popular in his own right, the public knew how talented he was, and given strong runs before, he certainly deserved his own Grand National success.

L’Escargot Big Race Wins

There was far more to this horse than his Grand National win, with further big races coming earlier in his career. As mentioned, he was named the US Champion Steeplechaser, an award he won in 1969, and that was thanks to winning the Meadow Brook Steeplechase at Belmont Park, New York.

Then he would come across to the UK and dominate the sport on this side of the pond. He would go over hurdles and compete in some of the top races, including the Champion Hurdle.

But over fences is where he made his mark. He would become a two-time Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, firstly landing the race in 1970 when a 33/1 outsider, and then secondly in 1971, when he followed up that success.

After turning his focus to the Grand National, it would take some years before L’Escargot was able to get his head in front in that race. However, when doing so, he would become just the second horse at the time to win both the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National, two of the top races in the UK and two races quite close together on the calendar.

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