Poethlyn

Depending on whether or not you include the War Steeplechase races at Gatwick Racecourse as part of the Grand National history will determine what you call Poethlyn. If you include those, he’s a double winner of the race, don’t’ include them, and he won just once.

Most people include them, and this is why Poethlyn is a horse worth remembering for a quiz question. He is the racehorse that won the Grand National twice at two different venues.

Bred in Ireland, he was trained in England by Harry Escott and was always a horse that was well thought of. The horse was in peak form, going well, and he would head to Gatwick Racecourse in 1918.

Aintree Racecourse was closed at the time, as it was set up as a war office during World War I, which led the race to be moved to Gatwick. He would go into the race at odds of 100/6, he was fancied but hadn’t quite proven himself at the top level just yet.

That was all about to change. A win at Gatwick would propel the horse forward, even if this wasn’t the traditional Grand National test of Aintree, it was still a tough and very competitive race.

But for some, until he’d done it at Aintree, they didn’t regard him as a true winner of the race. Fast forward 12 months, and he went and proved all the doubters wrong. After winning in 1918, Poethlyn was a strongly fancied favourite when going to Aintree. He was sent off at just 11/4, incredibly short for a race of this nature.

To make life tougher, he had to carry top weight, which was 12 stone and 7 pounds, a lot of weight to go around any course, never mind the test that Aintree brings.

He would do it from the front at Aintree. Jockey Ernest Piggott would put him near the front of the race, tracking those making the pace. By the time horses reached the second circuit, Poethlyn was pulling clear and was well ahead of the chasing pack. He would keep going until the end and record a winning distance of 10 lengths.

Just seven horses managed to complete the race, and it was a facile win for Poethlyn, justifying being so short in the betting and doing it all under a huge weight on his back.

Poethlyn would return to Aintree in 1920 in a bid to win the race for a third consecutive year, but things did not go to plan. An early fall in the race put paid to his chances, and from then on, his career took a downward turn, and he was unable to hit the heights he did during his earlier years.

But don’t let that take anything away from Poethlyn, who was able to win the Grand National twice in his career, once at Gatwick and once at Aintree. The latter in particular, was a wonderful performance from the front under the burden of a big weight.

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