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
Barton (horse) 2002/2003 National Hunt season he was considered a serious contender for the Cheltenham Gold Cup but was well beaten in all of his four races. In November 2003 he showed signs of a return when he finished second by a neck to his stable companion Turgeonev when carrying top weight of 165 pounds in a handicap chase at Wetherby, but he never ran again. Barton was euthanised in June 2004 in the same week as fellow Cheltenham Festival winner La Landiere. Barton (horse) Barton (19 February 1993 – 2004) was a British racehorse of Thoroughbred and Anglo-Arabian ancestry who competed