Paul Nicholls after Kauto Star won the Gold Cup at Cheltenham 2007
It will take a brave punter to overlook horses with an Irish connection at the 2007 Grand National, unless they also choose to ignore some staggering stats.
Five out of the last eight winners of the Aintree showpiece have been trained in the Emerald Isle, 10 out of the last 12 jockeys were born in that country and only one horse since 1998 was not bred in Ireland!
The race, horse and jockey that skews the figures was the victory for Richard Guest aboard Red Marauder in 2001 – a race run in atrocious conditions which saw only four horses finish the marathon event.
So when selecting your Grand National bets or following that tip from the office racing expert, you may want to make sure your horse has a tint of green to it.
In any newspaper or online betting site, the Irish-trained horses will have an IRE suffix after the trainer's name e.g. last season's winning trainer Martin Brassil (IRE)
Similarly, Irish-born horses always have the (IRE) directly after their name e.g. Red Rum (IRE).
Given the country's tradition with racehorses, plenty of jockeys hail from across the Irish Sea – the surname tends to give the game away although some are not always easily identifiable. Tony McCoy, Graham Lee, Ruby Walsh, Mick Fitzgerald and Tony Dobbin are some of the leading jockeys who are based in England but were all born in Ireland.
The Irish dominance of British horse racing last season did not end with the Grand National for they also sent out runners to win other top races including: Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle and Chase. They also supplied the second home in the Champion Chase plus the first three in the Gold Cup and, incredibly, the first four home in the Champion Hurdle.
There are more reasons for this success than simply Ireland's love affair with the thoroughbred. For example, the breeding, owning and training of racehorses is heavily subsidised by the Irish government, while the temperate climate of the island favours the rearing and training of horses.
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