Longford bred horse to run in Aintree Grand National

Minella Trump (sire Shantou) foaled in 2014 and was bred by the late John Victory of Bracklin, Mostrim. He stayed in Bracklin until he was a 3 year old and was sold to Minella racing 2017 who sold him onto his current owners Mr TG Leslie at the Aintree sales in 2019.

Minella Trump, who is now trained by Donald McCain, won seven races in a row in England, which is a very rare occurrence and he has won nine out of his last ten races.

The late John Victory, who died aged 65, on May 1, 2019, also bred and owned Kilaroo Boy which ran in the Irish Grand National and also in The Foxhunters at Aintree. Away from his love of horses, John was a driving force with Mostrim GAA teams, winning a Longford U21 medal in 1973 and county senior medal in 1985.

John’s son Michael explained that there was a bit of a scare with Minella Trump when he was born. “He was caught in the Mares placenta after giving birth.

A neighbour, Paddy Smith spotted him in the field lifeless and alerted dad. Paddy ran for a bucket of water and Dad with a knife to the other end of the field and cut the placenta and threw the bucket of water on him. I remember him saying he could see the life blood rushing back into his body as the water hit him.”

John was a beef and equine specialist with Teagasc in the Westmeath area until retiring in 2009. Horses were a hobby for him and he always had a goal of having a horse in the Grand National and to run in Aintree.

He got into horses after meeting a great friend of his, Jim Robinson in Teagasc. He first bought an Irish Draft horse for hunting with Longford Harriers and Westmeath Harriers. “He then bought a few ponies for us kids to learn on,” Michael outlined.

A few years later his interest grew. He bought a broodmare Le Roilelet, bred a few foals from her and raced them (racing in the Mostrim colours) in a syndicate co owned with John’s good friends, Kay and Pat Quinn, Anne and Phillip Quinn, Tony Garvey from Mostrim and Pat Hegarty from Rathowen. “We all have fond memories of a few great days out at the races with these families as young kids.”

His second broodmare was One Theatre, he bought in Goffs in 2012 breeding a Shantou Foal (Minella Trump) in 2014.
Michael said, “We handled and looked after him here in Bracklin until he was three, selling him on at the Sales to John Nallen of Minella Hotels who named him and raced him in his first Point to Point which he won.

"He was then sold onto Mr Leslie in the Goffs sales. One of the best trainers in the UK Donald McCain trained him to a huge achievement of 7 wins in a row in the UK which does not happen very often. He broke that run by coming second but went on to win two more races. He had a blowout in Bangor in recent weeks so we would be hoping for him to benefit from that in the Aintree Grand National on April 15.”

Michael and his siblings Ger, Maria and Shane always had ponies and national hunt horses riding out down the land and with the Longford Harriers. “I have great memories of Mam (Therese), Dad and brothers and sisters loading the horse box with horses and travelling all over the country.”

Michael concluded, “Dad got a shocking and unexpected diagnosis in September 2016 and passed away in May 2019. He did live to see his dream of a horse he bred running in the Irish National.

"He never got to see Killaro run in Aintree. Never would he have believed he would have bred two different horses from different mares to run in Aintree.

"He would never have thought he would breed a horse to run in the biggest National hunt race in the world, the Aintree Grand National. It is a huge achievement for a Longford bred Horse to have a live chance in the National it will be great to have local interest in the race and hopefully is a good omen that he runs in the Blue and Gold Longford colours.”