The 1920 Grand National was won by two men who were very familiar with the race, winning on multiple occasions, and this particular year, they did it with a horse who wasn’t a veteran of the race, instead running for the one and only time in it.
Troytown would land the big race at Aintree this year, which was the only time he ran in the contest. Sent off at odds of 6/1, he was well fancied to take the race amongst the favourites.
He did it nicely, too, recording a winning distance of 12 lengths, with five runners in total finishing the course, four of them completed without error, while the 5th placed horse remounted to finish.
Going on the day was heavy, which took its toll, and with heavy rain falling on the course throughout the contest, this really was a tough test for those taking part. Twenty-four runners would begin the race, with 19 of them not managing to finish.
Poethlyn was a warm order in the betting, and all the pre-race talk was about this runner. Winner of the Grand National for the two previous years, in 1919 and 1918, he was 3/1 favourite to land the hat trick. However, his race came to a very abrupt end when he fell at the very first fence.
Algy Anthony Wins Second Grand National at Second Attempt
The winning trainer of Troytown was Algy Anthony, and he would be winning the race for the second time here. And it was just his second attempt to do so, leaving him with a remarkable final Grand National record of two runners and two winners.
There would also be a 20-year gap between his two runs in the race, making it even more special, as he would be doing it at different parts of his training career.
He would first land the Grand National in 1900 with Ambush before following up here to bag his second winner in Aintree’s top event.
With no other runners in the race, as far as multiple winners go, Algy Anthony is as good as any we’ve ever seen with the Grand National and a remarkable training story.
Winning Jockey Jack Anthony Lands Third Grand National Win
It wasn’t just the trainer of Troytown winning the contest again, as jockey Jack Anthony would land his third Grand National win with the 1920 race.
The Welsh jockey also landed the race in 1911, on his first-ever ride in the Aintree contest, and in 1915. This would be his third Grand National win in the space of 10 years and a total of seven rides.
Later in his career, he would go on to finish second twice on Old Tay Bridge (1925 and 1926), plus he would finish third on Bright’s Boy (1927), coming close to adding a fourth Grand National win to his name.
His overall record saw him complete eight times from 14 total rides in the race. He would win it on three occasions and place on three others.
Given how tough the Grand National was seen to be at the time, his record has to go down as being one of the best of all time. A model of consistency who know and understood the Aintree racecourse and the test that the Grand National brings better than most others.
Results
| Result | Horse | Starting Price | Age | Handicap | Prize Money | Jockey | Trainer |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Troytown | 6/1 | 7 | 11-9 | £4425 | John Randolph Anthony ‘Jack’ | Algernon Anthony |
| 2 | The Turk II | 66/1 | 10 | 9-7 | - | Roger ‘Tiny’ Burford | Aubrey Hastings |
| 3 | The Bore | 28/1 | 9 | 10-1 | - | Harry A Brown | Harry A Brown |
| 4 | Sergeant Murphy | 100/7 | 10 | 10-00 | - | W Smith | G Hyams |
| 6 | Bonnie Charlie | Unknown | 12 | 9-7 | - | Mr Morgan Blair | R Fetherstonhaugh |