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
Ballinode (horse) but failed to complete the course. In their book, "A Century of Champions", based on the Timeform rating system, John Randall and Tony Morris rated Ballinode a "poor" Gold Cup winner. She is remembered in the name of Ballinode Close, a residential street in Cheltenham. Ballinode (horse) Ballinode (foaled 1916) was an Irish racehorse who won the 1925 Cheltenham Gold Cup. She was the first mare and the first Irish-trained horse to win the race. She was known as "The Sligo Mare." Ballinode was a chestnut mare bred in Ireland. She was one of the few horses of any consequence