Sprig

During his horse racing career, Sprig would be a regular in the Aintree Grand National, running in the race a total of five times, all in consecutive years from 1925 until 1929.

He would complete on the first three of those, with two fourth-placed efforts in 1925 and 1926, before going better and getting a deserved win in 1927. He would return for two more years but fell early in 1928 and refused half way round on his last appearance in 1929.

There was a nice backstory to the winner, in particular, to his name. He was owned by Mrs Mary Patridge, and she would name the horse after her late son. He was a pilot in the air force, Captain Philip Partridge, nicknamed Sprig. He was sadly killed in World War I.

At the time, the win of Sprig was heard by many more people in real-time than had ever heard the Grand National before, as this was the first ever Grand National to have radio commentary.

On the day of Sprig’s win, torrential rain hit the Aintree track and turned the ground bad, officially described as soft and heavy in places. By the end of the first circuit, conditions were so bad that half of the field was already out of the race.

Sprig was a horse that relished conditions, though, and thanks to his background in hunting and point-to-point racing, he had all the stamina needed, the further they went, the better he looked.

He surged into contention towards the end of the race and was going well, compared to the others who were all beginning to struggle and simply could not keep up with the pace in which Sprig was catching up.

He overtook Bovril and went into the lead at the final fence, powering towards the finish to record a win by one length, with a winning time of 10 minutes and 20 seconds. This sounds like a slow time, but given the conditions on the track, this was actually a very impressive time.

Alongside the story of his name, this was also a special win for the Leader family, the trainer was father, Tom Leader, while the jockey was his son, Ted Leader. The pair combined in the Grand National on numerous occasions, but this was their only win together. Tom would have another, but on that occasion, Ted decided to ride a different, more fancied horse than the winner and ultimately picked the wrong one.

Sprig would give the pair a win together, Mrs Patridge a perfect way of remembering her son, and, in incredibly tough conditions, Sprig would show us all that battling adversity is the best way to move forward.

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