2012 Grand National by Ginger McCain, the father of Ballabriggs' trainer Donald McCain, Jr. Among the early favourites for the race – alongside Ballabriggs – were Junior (trained by 2008's winning trainer David Pipe), Synchronised (the winner of the Lexus Chase on 28 December 2011 and later the 2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup), Weird Al (winner in the October 2011 Charlie Hall Chase), and Midnight Chase (first in the Cotswold Chase on 4 February 2012). Synchronised was attempting to become the first horse since Golden Miller in 1934 to win both the Gold Cup and Grand National in the same year. Handicap weights were
2016 Cheltenham Gold Cup 10 lengths behind in third place. All three placed horses were trained in Ireland. 2016 Cheltenham Gold Cup The 2016 Cheltenham Gold Cup (known as the Timico Gold Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 88th annual running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup horse race and was held at Cheltenham Racecourse on Friday 18 March 2016. The race was won by the 9 to 4 favourite, Don Cossack, owned by Ryanair CEO Michael O'Leary's Gigginstown House Stud, trained by Gordon Elliott in Ireland, and ridden by Bryan Cooper. The race gave Elliott and Cooper a first victory in the Cheltenham Gold