The winner of the 1905 Grand National was the second favourite in the betting market, Kirkland. He was sent off with an SP of 6/1, well fancied, and he duly obliged for those that backed him to have success.
A second-placed effort a year earlier remained in the memory of punters, who were keen to back this horse for success this time around.
The horse would go on to win the race by a distance of three lengths and, in doing so, would go down in the record books as the first Welsh-trained runner to win the Grand National.
Going on the day was described as good, and that allowed eight of the 27 runners to complete the course and cross the finishing line.
The winning jockey on the day was Frank Mason, known as Titch during his racing days. He was one of the top jockeys of this era, a multiple winner of the Champions Jockey award, and despite this being his only Grand National winner as a rider, his record in the race was very strong.
He would ride 12 times in the race and managed to complete on eight occasions, an achievement in itself. Of those, he would win the race once and place a further five times, meaning he placed on six of the 12 rides he took in the Aintree big one.
Kirkland was also a very consistent horse, too, and would excel at Aintree, he ran in the Grand National four times and completed every single one of those.
He finished 4th during his first Grand National attempt in 1903 before going better than that in 1904 when he was second in the race. He would win in 1905 and then come back in 1908 for another attempt at the race, though while he did manage to complete it, he could only finish 7th on that final run in this race.
Finally, despite failing to finish after a fall in the race, it is worth mentioning Moifaa, who won the 1904 Grand National a year earlier. After that run, he was actually bought by the King and came here running for the Monarchy, which added even more interest to him.
The horse was sent off as the 4/1 favourite, with plenty of weight on his back and a lot of public interest due to the King owning the horse, but he would fail to get around.
Results
| Result | Horse | Starting Price | Age | Handicap | Prize Money | Jockey | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Kirkland | 6/1 | 9 | 11-5 | £2025 | Frank ‘Tich’ Mason | Lt Col F Lort-Phillips |
| 2 | Napper Tandy | 25/1 | 8 | 10-00 | - | Percy Woodland | Sir Charles Nugent |
| 3 | Buckaway | 100/1 | 7 | 9-11 | - | Alfred Newey | J Rogers |
| 4 | Ranunculus | 7/1 | 7 | 9-12 | - | C Hollobone | Tom Coulthwaite |
| 5 | Hercules II | 33/1 | 9 | 9-10 | - | Joe Dillon | F Hunt |
| 6 | Band Of Hope | 100/1 | 9 | 9-10 | - | W Donnelly | Gwyn Saunders-Davies |
| 7 | Cottenshope | 66/1 | 9 | 9-11 | - | Dennis Morris | W H Burbidge |
| 8 | Phil May | 20/1 | 6 | 11-00 | - | Richard Morgan | Sir Charles Nugent |