Ballabriggs

Ballabriggs
Sire	Presenting
Grandsire	Mtoto
Dam	Papoose
Damsire	Little Bighorn
Sex	Gelding
Foaled	20 April 2001
Country	Ireland
Colour	Bay
Breeder	Mrs S L Jackson
Owner	Trevor Hemmings
Trainer	Donald McCain, Jr.
Record	28: 7-7-2
Earnings	£623,049
Major wins
Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup (2010) Grand National (2011)
Last updated on 13 April 2013

Ballabriggs (foaled 20 April 2001) is a retired Grand National-winning National Hunt racehorse trained by Donald McCain, Jr. in Cholmondeley, Cheshire and owned by Trevor Hemmings.

Ballabriggs' racecourse debut was in a 2-mile National Hunt flat race at Uttoxeter on 14 May 2006. He was ridden by Stephen Craine and finished 5th of 15, beaten 23 lengths, at odds of 13/2. For the next two seasons he campaigned unsuccessfully over hurdles, before switching to chasing in December 2007. At Catterick on 18 January 2008, he was ridden for the first time by Jason Maguire who would go on to be the jockey with which he is most closely associated. At the sixth time of asking, and having finished runner up three times, he finally got off the mark as a chaser, winning a Class 4 Beginners' Chase at Bangor.

In 2010, the gelding came to the fore as a chaser, winning five races in succession, including the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup at the Cheltenham Festival at odds of 9/1.

Then in 2011, Ballabriggs had his greatest moment, winning the 2011 Grand National at Aintree Racecourse. Ridden by Maguire, the horse's odds were between 14-1 and 20-1 before the race, but he unexpectedly remained in the leading pack for most of the race, before pulling out in front over the final fences. Ballabriggs finished ahead of Sam Waley-Cohen's Oscar Time in second, and Tony McCoy's Don't Push It in third. Dehydrated in the unusually hot weather, Ballabriggs immediately returned to the stable after the win, instead of going to the winners enclosure as tradition dictates. It was the first time only the jockey entered the winner's enclosure without his mount.

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