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The Lamb, just under 15 and 1/2 hands, won the Grand National in 1868 and 1871. A tiny foal born in Ireland, his first job was as a child's pet; he then went on to win flat races and served as a field hunter. After winning the Kildare Hunt Plate at Punchestown, he was purchased by Lord Powlett who sent him to school with the amateur jockey and cricketer George Ede. After his first National win, The Lamb contracted an illness that kept him from racing for 2 years, but he was brought back to win the National again by two lengths in '71, carrying a new jockey, Tommy Picknernell (Ede had died in a fall) and 11 st. 5 lbs. That race has been immortalised in a print, which shows The Lamb jumping both Valentine's Brook and a horse that fell in front of it. Sold to German steeplechasing enthusiast Baron von Oppenheim, he ran again in the National in 1872, but placed fourth, carrying the top weight of 12 st. 7 lb. He broke his leg in the Grand Steeplechase of Baden-Baden in Germany in 1872, and had to be destroyed. His sire was Zouave, who also won over fences, from a good Irish steeplechasing mare family. The Lamb's dam was a half-bred mare by Arthur, who placed second in the 1840 Grand National. |
