Team Spirit

Horses | Last ran in 1964
Dam - Lady Villikins
Sire - Vulgan
Dam's Sire - Knight Of The Garter
Born - 1952

Team Spirit Grand National Wins

  • 1964 - ridden by Willie Robinson trained by Fulke T Walwyn
Team Spirit Horse
Team Spirit with owners

If wins were given out at the Grand National for perseverance and never giving up, then Team Spirit’s victory at Aintree in 1964 is one given to him for exactly those reasons.

At a time when the Grand National was as tough a test as it’s ever been, he would run in the race for a total of five consecutive years.

Prior to going for one last time in 1964, his best finish was a 4th-placed effort in 1963, a year earlier. But 1964 was different. He would finally get a win under his belt, taking the race by half a length.

A 12-year-old, when winning the race, he was very much at the end of his career when finally getting in front, and was immediately retired from racing afterwards. American-owned, after the race, the horse was shipped back to the USA, where he would spend retirement with his owner.

While the horse wrote his own story, with his love for the Grand National and continued to push to win it, there was also a big story for trainer Fulke Walwyn.

He had previously ridden a Grand National winner and was now training to become one of the few who completed the double. Two second places came earlier in his career, but here he was able to make it count this time around, with what would be his only success as a trainer in the Grand National.

Team Spirit’s Big Race Wins

The 1964 Grand National was not the only race that Team Spirit won over the Grand National obstacles at Aintree.

In the build-up to this win, he would go to the course to run in the Grand Sefton Chase, which he won, putting to bed the myth he was too small to jump around the National course, something that had been put to him.

The Mildmay Memorial Chase and the Hurst Park National Trial were two big races that Team Spirit won in his earlier years when he was beginning his tilt at the Grand National.

He was a small horse, but one that proved size didn’t matter when he won the Grand National in 1964.

Full Results

Year Result Prize Money Handicap Jockey Trainer
1964 1 £20380 10-3 Willie Robinson Fulke T Walwyn
1963 4 £658 11s 10-3 Willie Robinson Fulke T Walwyn
1962 Fence 19 - Fell - 10-6 Willie Robinson Dan L Moore
1961 9 - 10-13 Willie Robinson Dan L Moore
1960 Fence 22 - Unseated Rider - 10-12 Willie Robinson Dan L Moore