Hedgehunter (born 25 January 1996) is an Irish race horse, who won the

2005 Grand National The 2005 Grand National (officially known as the John Smith's Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 158th official annual running of the Grand National steeplechase which took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 9 A ...

steeplechase, ridden by Ruby Walsh and trained by Willie Mullins. He had fallen at the final fence the previous year when well placed. He then finished second in 2006 to

Numbersixvalverde Numbersixvalverde (born 1996) is an Irish race horse who won both the 2005 Irish Grand National and 2006 Aintree Grand National steeplechase, beating Hedgehunter by six lengths with Niall Madden in the saddle. Numbersixvalverde won his big ra ...

. He also finished second in the 2006 Cheltenham Gold Cup to

War of Attrition The War of Attrition ( ar, حرب الاستنزاف, Ḥarb al-Istinzāf; he, מלחמת ההתשה, Milhemet haHatashah) involved fighting between Israel and Egypt, Jordan, the Palestine Liberation Organisation (PLO) and their allies from ...

. The horse is owned by

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

billionaire

Trevor Hemmings Trevor James Hemmings (11 June 1935 – 11 October 2021) was a British billionaire businessman. Early life Hemmings was born in Woolwich, London, the son of a Royal Ordnance factory worker father. During the Second World War, part of the Royal ...

who also owned Blackpool Tower.

Racing career

Early career

Hedgehunter was foaled in January 1996 on the Tully Hill Stud in

Dublin Dublin (; , or ) is the capital and largest city of Republic of Ireland, Ireland. On a bay at the mouth of the River Liffey, it is in the Provinces of Ireland, province of Leinster, bordered on the south by the Dublin Mountains, a part of th ...

. He was bred by Mary Lang and her uncle, Tony Keogh. He was sold ten months later on 5 November for £3,200 at National Hunt Sales in Tattersalls Fairyhouse Ireland. Niall F Quaid bought him and put him into training with Willie Mullins. In his first season, he ran in and finished second in four National Hunt Flat Races. It wasn't until the end of the following season he managed to win a sixteen-runner Maiden Hurdle at Clonmel.

Chase career

The next season, he went

Novice A novice is a person who has entered a religious order and is under probation, before taking vows. A ''novice'' can also refer to a person (or animal e.g. racehorse) who is entering a profession A profession is a field of work that has ...

chasing winning the Grand National Trial at

Punchestown Punchestown Racecourse is located in the parish of Eadestown, between the R410 and R411 regional roads near Naas, County Kildare, in Ireland. It is known as the home of Irish Jumps Racing and plays host to the annual Punchestown Irish National ...

Gowran Park and ran at the 2003

Cheltenham Festival The Cheltenham Festival is a horse racing-based meeting in the National Hunt racing calendar in the United Kingdom, with race prize money second only to the Grand National. The four-day festival takes place annually in March at Cheltenham Rac ...

in the National Hunt Chase. He moved to dispute the lead before making a mistake at the second last fence and almost losing his jockey. He made one more racecourse appearance that season finishing second to the Royal and Sun Alliance Chase winner Rule Supreme at the Punchestown Festival. He began the 2004-2005 season chasing home the classy Strong Flow to finish fourth in the

Hennessy Gold Cup /Ladbrokes Trophy The Coral Gold Cup is a Premier Handicap National Hunt steeplechase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run ...

at Newbury Racecourse. Next he finished third to the Grand National winner Bindaree in the

Welsh National The Coral Welsh Grand National is a Premier Handicap National Hunt steeplechase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged four years or older. It is run at Chepstow, Wales, over a distance of about ...

, before winning the prestigious Thyestes chase at Gowran Park.

2004 Grand National

His first run in the Grand National was in 2004. He led the field as they turned for home before tiring and falling at the last when in third, unlucky not to finish close behind the winner

Amberleigh House Amberleigh House (24 May 1992 – 27 April 2017) was the horse that won the 2004 Grand National. Staff Amberleigh House was trained by Ginger McCain, and was usually ridden by jockey Graham Lee, amongst others. Lee rode Amberleigh House ...

2005 Grand National

The race began at a furious pace and despite making a slight mistake at the tenth fence and Ruby Walsh almost losing his irons Hedgehunter was chasing the well fancied Clan Royal. As the field approached Becher's Brook a loose horse swerved in front of the leader, and stopping him from jumping the fence. This left Hedgehunter in the lead 8 fences from the finish and he led the field over the last fence. He was travelling very well up the run in when Walsh asked him to quicken and he put a dozen lengths between himself and the second horse.

2006 Grand National

Starting 5/1 joint favourite for the 2006 National, Hedgehunter carried top weight of 11 stone 12 (166 lb, 75 kg) and came off of a hard race a few weeks earlier when he finished second in the Cheltenham Gold Cup. He finished six lengths second behind

. Few horses have been so close in three consecutive Grand Nationals since Red Rum.

2007 Grand National

Starting with odds of 14-1 and again carrying top weight, finished in 9th place.

2008 Grand National

Starting with odds of 20-1 finished

13th In music or music theory, a thirteenth is the note thirteen scale degrees from the root of a chord and also the interval between the root and the thirteenth. The interval can be also described as a compound sixth, spanning an octave pl ...

of 15 finishers, again with top-weight.

Retirement

On 10 April 2008, at 12 years old, Hedgehunter was retired by his owner, having amassed three quarters of a million pounds in prize money.

References

{{Reflist

External links

The Story of the 2005 Grand National

A Hedgehunter's Fans Site
1996 racehorse births Grand National winners National Hunt racehorses Racehorses bred in Ireland Racehorses trained in Ireland Thoroughbred family 8-c