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Prince Regent, winner of the Irish Grand National in 1942 and the Cheltenham Gold Cup in 1946 (his only run there, winning by 7 lengths) and many other steeplechases, including the Baldoyle Handicap 3 years in a row, is considered one of the greatest weight-carriers in the history of the sport and was the idol of Irish steeplechasing in the 1940s. He was a big, strapping youngster when purchased by his long-time owner and prominent 'chaser owner, J.V. Rank, in Ireland, where he was bred. He began racing at age 5, in 1940, and due to the war and other circumstances, he first ran in the Grand National at Aintree in 1946, when past his prime, and again in 1947. In both races he carried the heaviest weights, and the best he could do was third and fourth, respectively. His great superiority in his Irish steeplechases, when he never carried less than the burden of 12 st. 4 lb, brought him widespread popular acclaim in appreciation of his courage and class, and when he lost, it was attributed to his giving away great amounts of weight to his opponents. In all he won twenty-one races. seventeen of them carrying more than 12 stone or more. He was by the great 'chaser sire My Prince, and out of the unplaced Nemea, sister to a fast flat racer, Diomedes. Nemea, who also produced another 'chaser winner by My Prince, Prince of Athens, carried multiple lines of Melbourne blood in both her sire and dam; her damsire, Captivation, got some good jumpers in the 1920s, and her tail-female grandam, Little Denmark, was sister to a good 'chaser, Denmark. |
