Saddle up for race through history - looking back at the world’s first steeplechase

It is safe to say that, even allowing for 265 years of inflation, the prize fund of €500,000 for this year’s Irish Grand National is somewhat more than the value of the hogshead or cask of wine that two Corkmen competed for in the world’s first steeplechase.

It was a wager made in 1752 by huntsmen Edmund Blake and Cornelius O’Callaghan to see which of their horses would gallop fastest the four miles between the steeples of St John’s Church in Buttevant and the Church of St Leger in Doneraile.

History does not record who won the bet but an account of the race was made and went viral in an 18th century way — so much so, that the account of the steeplechase made its way to the library of the O’Briens of Dromoland Castle.