Sam Brown Grand National Wins
Sam Brown has never won the Grand National.
They have never finished the race.
Grand National runners are often seen as horses that take their time to get going and really come into their own when over bigger obstacles and longer distances. That wasn’t the case with the early part of Sam Brown’s career. A debut winner, national hunt flat race winner, and successful in five of his first six starts, this horse hit the ground running, and since then has never looked back.
Foaled in 2012, he’s been in the care of Anthony Honeyball for his racing journey so far, with the horse contesting high-level handicaps for most of that period. The majority of these have been over staying trips, and that eventually led him to trying his luck in the Grand National.
His Aintree debut came in the 2023 Grand National, but at the end of the first circuit, at the 15th fence, The Chair, his race came to an end, running in midfield before that.
Full Results
| Year | Result | Prize Money | Handicap | Jockey | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023 | Fence 15 - Fell | - | 11-4 | Jonathan Burke | Anthony Honeyball |
Sam Brown’s Early Years
The start to life for Sam Brown was excellent, he hit the ground running and bagged a few wins across all three jumping codes. He made his debut in the national hunt flat race at Wincanton in February 2017, winning that race by just over a length. Carrying a penalty, he followed up a month later and won by just under a length at Newbury.
After a summer break, hurdling would come next, and this is where he suffered his only early defeat, finishing fourth at Wincanton. He put things right on his second hurdles start, winning a Plumpton novice hurdle by seven lengths, but sadly at this point, a big injury would keep the horse off the track for more than two years.
In January 2020, he was back and went chasing straight away, making his debut at Lingfield and winning that contest by a hugely impressive 22 lengths. With no time to waste, he went straight up into graded company and ran in the Grade Two Altcar Novices’ Chase at Haydock, a race he won by 15 lengths. Pulled up on his final start of the season at Ascot, which would round off a long novice campaign, harmed by injuries along the way.
Sam Brown’s Big Race Wins
The Haydock novice chase win that has just been mentioned is currently the biggest win of Sam Brown’s career so far, a Grade Two contest and a big win by 15 lengths, which was great to see given the injuries this horse has suffered.
Since then, he’s won another graded contest, this time it was a Grade Three handicap chase at Aintree, in April 2022. This race was a big, competitive handicap, with plenty of fancied runners, but he blew the field apart and won by 15 lengths from Shan Blue in second.
Given this horse suffered a big injury that kept him off the track for two years, it will always be a case of what we could have seen, especially earlier in his career as a novice chaser, but that’s something we will never know.