The Huntsman was the winner of the 1862

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap ...

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run on 12 March at

Aintree Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, north-east of Liverpool city centre, in North West England. It i ...

near

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. The winner was owned by Viscount de Namur and trained in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

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born trainer Henry (Harry) Jeremiah Lamplugh who also chose to ride the horse himself. The Huntsman had previously finished third in the race in 1859 and second in 1860, being ridden in the latter race by the amateur jockey

Thomas Townley Thomas Owen Townley (August 18, 1862 – March 19, 1935) was a Canadian lawyer and the eighth Mayor of Vancouver, British Columbia, serving one term in 1901. Born in Newmarket, Canada West, the son of John and Alice (Dixon) Townley, both of ...

. The Huntsman had left

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in February 1861 under the care of Lamplugh to spend a year at Doncaster preparing for the

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap ...

. Thirteen ran, with the previous year's winner Jealousy being withdrawn on the morning of the race. The Huntsman came to the final fence with only one other horse in with a chance of beating him, Bridegroom, ridden by Richard Sherrard. The Huntsman had more to offer than his rival and went on up the run in to become the first French trained winner of the race. Five horses completed the course although the third placed Romeo had refused at the third last fence while fifth placed Bucephalus had been virtually brought down in the early stages and finished tailed off from his rivals. The race of 1862 is remembered however for the only human fatality recorded in the Grand National. At the Chair fence situated in front of the grand stands two competitors collided before both fell. One of the riders, Joseph Wynne, riding in his first National was crushed and was taken unconscious to the nearby Sefton Arms Inn where he died five hours later. Joe's father Dennis (Denny) had won the race as a jockey in 1847 but he himself had died in a fall in 1858. Within a month of his victory, The Huntsman was taken back to France to the headquarters of his new owner, the Baron de la Motte, at the Imperial Haras tudat

Abbeville Abbeville (, vls, Abbekerke, pcd, Advile) is a commune in the Somme department and in Hauts-de-France region in northern France. It is the chef-lieu of one of the arrondissements of Somme. Located on the river Somme, it was the capital of ...

. The Huntsman was to stand for his portrait by M. G. Parquet and then to be put to stud at

References

1853 racehorse births National Hunt racehorses Racehorses trained in the United Kingdom Racehorses bred in the United Kingdom Grand National winners Thoroughbred family 3 {{racehorse-stub