The last 10 years have seen an explosion of Irish winners at the Aintree Grand National but the history between the two goes back much further than that. In fact it was two Irish fox-hunting gentlemen Edmund Bake and Cornelius O’Callaghan who gave birth to the word ‘steeplechase’ back in 1752! So it only seems appropriate given the races origins that the Irish have the greatest overseas impact at the Aintree Grand National.

Since the race first started in 1839 there have been 25 Irish winners of the Grand National starting with Coolreagh-bred Matthew who won the race in 1847, the 10-1 joint favourite. The next was Abd-El-Kader who became the first dual winner of the Grand National in 1850 and 1851. But it took a long 24 years before The Liberator triumphed, having finished third behind Austerlitz two years earlier. Trainer Henry Linde and jockey Tommy Beasley came back in force in 1881, winning again with Woodbrook, who revelled in the boggy conditions.

Over 100 years later the Irish are still having an incredible impact at this glorious race meeting including jockey of L’Escargot Tommy Carberry who trained the 1999 Irish and English National winner Bobbyjo, who was ridden by Tommy’s son Paul. The father-son combo quickly caught on and in 2000 Papillon won, with Ted Walsh training and son Ruby riding his first National.

2003 saw Monty’s Pass be victorious by 12 lengths, while Ruby Walsh secured his second National victory on Hedgehunter in 2005 who was also a runner up in 2006 behind Irish-trained Numbersixvalverde, Martin Brassil’s first runner in the National. Success came again in 2007 with Silver Birch who beat McKelvey by three quarters of a length, and in 2008 with Comply Or Die, proving that the Irish really do have what it takes in the great race!

Don’t forget that you can get some unusual bets at Paddy Power including the odds on an Irish trained horse to win the race outright!