An American racehorse owner is bidding to emulate his ancestor’s win in the Grand National of 1923 by triumphing in the race exactly 100 years on.
Pierre Manigault and his family will travel more than 4,000 miles from South Carolina in the United States to Aintree racecourse to watch Cape Gentleman – who was bought last year specifically to run in this year’s renewal of the race – take on the iconic Aintree fences.
The decision to buy a horse for the race was inspired by the story of Stephen ‘Laddie’ Sandford, Manigault’s Great Uncle, who became the first American to ever own a Grand National winner when his horse Sergeant Murphy stormed to victory in 1923.
It was such an achievement at the time that Hollywood movie-makers turned it into the 1938 film ‘Sergeant Murphy’ – starring future president Ronald Reagan.
The 1923 Grand National Winner Segeant Murphy being led back in after his victory.
Speaking from his home in Charleston before setting off for the UK, Manigault told The Jockey Club, which owns Aintree Racecourse: “There has been a great presence of Sergeant Murphy everywhere in my life for as long as I can remember.
“I had always wanted to go to the 2023 Grand National and had been planning that because I wanted to see the race in person, see Aintree in person and be there for the centennial of Sergeant Murphy and my Great Uncle – that was a goal I had set.
“Then my trainer over here, Arch Kingsley, suggested that it would be good fun to have a horse in the race and I guess a light just kind of switched. It didn’t seem that far-fetched – we had already bought a couple of horses in Ireland and imported them into America and so the thought of buying a horse to race didn’t seem crazy as we knew we’d be able to buy one, run the race and then bring him home to America.
“It all kind of just happened and developed. It’s exciting but it does make the whole prospect of coming over a little more nerve-wracking.”
Cape Gentleman after working at Shark Hanlon’s, photo courtesy of RVN Managment.
When he goes to post in this year’s race, Cape Gentleman will be carrying the same purple and gold colours that Captain Tuppy Bennet wore when winning onboard Sergeant Murphy exactly a century ago.
The horse’s owner himself is no stranger to the racetrack, having competed in point-to-points and owned horses that have run in races across The States in his family silks for many years.
Manigault, who runs his family-owned media company, used his network of contacts in the US to identify an appropriate trainer based on the other side of the Atlantic Ocean. That was when John ‘Shark’ Hanlon – who became a sensation Stateside after training Hewick to victory in the American Grand National back in October – was suggested.
Initially, Hanlon was approached about the prospect of selling his stable-star Hewick for the job – something that would not come to fruition – and so the trainer searched for something suitable, finding the answer in Cape Gentleman, who was stabled just a couple of miles down the road from his County Carlow home with last year’s Grand National-winning trainer Emmet Mullins.
Hanlon said: “It’s very hard to get a horse rated over 150 in England or Ireland that is for sale. There are plenty of them out there, but they’re not for sale – Gigginstown owns them, JP (McManus) owns them. They’re in with Willie (Mullins, trainer) or Paul Nicholls – their owners also want to have runners at Aintree and don’t want to be selling their horses.
“There was an element of luck in finding Cape Gentleman and his owner who was willing to sell. Only for that I don’t think I would have been able to buy them a horse and that would have been a disaster what with them having everything planned to come over to Liverpool.”
Manigault has not even met Cape Gentleman yet but is travelling to the UK with a group of friends and family, including his two daughters, who are equally as keen to be a part of family history when the special anniversary is marked.
And while their horse might be one of the outsiders for victory at 100/1, it would not be the first time a horse with those odds has triumphed in the greatest steeplechase in the world, with Mon Mome (2009), Foinavon (1967), Caughoo (1947), Gregalach (1929) and Tipperary Tim (1928) all successful 100/1 winners.
Explaining how excited the family are to be at Aintree this Saturday, Manigault explained: “Last spring on the morning that the hospitality boxes went on sale for the 2023 Grand National I woke up at around 4am to immediately place an order, not really knowing what I was getting – I was so afraid of missing out!
“I think this is a legacy that my family has been very proud of for a long time. Laddie was the very first American to win the race and it’s a tough race to win – only a handful of Americans have won it. It makes it much more exciting; it’s brought some energy to American racing and the heritage of American racing.”
Laddie Sandford exercising his 1923 Grand National Winner Sergeant Murphy
Back in the 1920s Sergeant Murphy was originally bought by Laddie as a hunter for his own use, before he was placed into training in Newmarket with George Blackwell – who remains one of the few people to have ever trained both a winner of The Derby in Rock Sand (1903) and a Grand National winner.
In total Sergeant Murphy would go on to complete the Grand National course six times and was the oldest horse in the field the year he claimed victory.
Valerie Archibald Embrey, Blackwell’s granddaughter, said: “This story really is quite something. Both Sergeant Murphy and Cape Gentleman are chestnuts, they have similar white markings and they both hold their heads very high. I think it’s amazing and I have such a great feeling about this.”
In 2013, exactly 90 years after The Aintree Grand National Trophy was won by Laddie and Sergeant Murphy, the silverware was stolen from the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in Saratoga Springs.
Story by Sophie-May Clarke.
Main photo, top: Sergeant Murphy leading at Becher’s in the 1923 Grand National.
Read more about the Grand National and its history in our Guide to the Grand National
Karen can usually be found glued to her computer or at the stables. Having edited several national magazines she co-founded Eclipse Magazine in 2008 after realising that many of her friends were nervous about going racing due to lack of information – what to wear, how to bet etc.
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