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
Punchestown Gold Cup used to be known as the Heineken Gold Cup. It was backed by Diageo between 2005 and 2011, and from 2011 to 2014 sponsored by Tote Ireland. From 2014 to 2016 the race was sponsored by Bibby Financial Services and since 2017 Coral has been the sponsor. The Punchestown Gold Cup usually features horses which ran previously in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. The last to win both races in the same year was Sizing John in 2017. Most successful horse (2 wins): Leading jockey since 1999 (5 wins): Leading trainer since 1999 (4 wins): The 2001 running took place at