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
2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup 2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup The 2012 Cheltenham Gold Cup (known as the Betfred Gold Cup for sponsorship reasons) was the 84th annual running of the Cheltenham Gold Cup horse race held at Cheltenham Racecourse on 16 March 2012. Fourteen horses ran and the steeplechase was won by 8/1 shot Synchronised, who was trained by Jonjo O'Neill and ridden by Tony McCoy. Synchronised completed the course in a time of 6 minutes 36.19 seconds and won by a distance of 2¼ lengths from second-placed The Giant Bolster. Kauto Star was attempting to win the Gold Cup for the third time and