Trainer Donald McCain on the 2011 Grand National winner who takes it all in his stride.
Fact file
Stable name: Briggsy
Age: 11
Height: 17hh
Breed: thoroughbred
Sire: Presenting
Dam: Papoose
Damsire: Little Bighorn
Discipline: racing
Owner: Trevor Hemmings
Trainer: Donald McCain
Jockey: Jason Maguire
Groom: Gary Grogan
Best ever result: first, Grand National 2011
Five things you didn’t know…
1 He has been under the hammer twice in Irish auction rings: for 12,000 Irish guineas as a foal in 2001 and for €32,000 as a yearling 11 months later.
2 He was born in Ireland on 27 April 2001 in Co Tipperary. His breeder, the late Sarah Jackson, raced his dam Papoose, whose sole win came in a point-to-point.
3 He has never won a Grade One race, but two of his family have. Hi Cloy, his dam’s half-brother, won four top-level chases and For Auction, a half-brother to his grandam, won the 1982 Champion Hurdle.
4 His maternal two-greats grandam Tourina showed no racing talent but proved a fine hunter, following the Ward Union Staghounds in Co Meath half a century ago.
5 He has started at odds-on favourite twice in his 22 runs and was beaten both times. He slipped going into the first fence at Leicester three years ago and he finished second at Kelso in his pre-National outing last year.
To read the full interview with Donald McCain about Ballabriggs see the 12 April issue of H&H
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