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
Irish Gold Cup for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. Three horses have won both events in the same year – Jodami (1993), Imperial Call (1996) and Sizing John (2017). ---- Irish Gold Cup The Irish Gold Cup (Irish: Corn Óir na hÉireann) is a Grade 1 National Hunt steeplechase in Ireland which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run at Leopardstown over a distance of about 3 miles (4,828 metres), and during its running there are seventeen fences to be jumped. The race is scheduled to take place each year in February. The event was first run in 1987,