A US racehorse owner whose ancestors won the 1923 Grand National is bidding to recreate his family’s success by winning the world famous race 100 years later.
Pierre Manigault and his family will travel more than 4,000 miles from South Carolina to watch Cape Gentleman, who was bought specifically to run in this year’s renewal of the £1 million.
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.
Manigault, from Charleston, 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.”
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.
Manigault, who runs his family-owned media company, approached John ‘Shark’ Hanlon, who won the American Grand National with Hewick, who bought Cape Gentleman.
Manigault has yet to meet Cape Gentleman but is travelling to Aintree with family and friends having secured a hospitality box a year ago to ensure they take in the whole experience.
“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.”
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.
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.
