On April 3, 2004, Amberleigh House won the Grand National, at the third attempt, staying on well from an unpromising position three out to collar the wandering leader, and co-favourite, Clan Royal, inside the final hundred yards and win by three lengths. In so doing, he allowed his trainer, Donald ‘Ginger’ McCain, who saddled the legendary Red Rum to three wins in 1973, 1974 and 1977, to equal the record of four Grand National winners previously held jointly by George Dockeray and Fred Rimmell.
On his first attempt in the Grand National, in 2001, when ridden by Warren Marston, Amberleigh House was sent off at 150/1 and brought down, along with seven other horses, in a pile-up at the Canal Turn on the first circuit. Having run in the Topham Chase, rather than the National, in 2002, he tried again in 2003, when ridden for just the second time by Graham Lee, finishing a one-paced third, beaten 14 lengths by the winner, Monty’s Pass, at 33/1.
After just being touched off by Clan Royal in the Becher Chase the previous November, Amberleigh House was 2lb better off in the National and sent off at 16/1 to make it third time lucky. That he did, coming from a seemingly hopeless position to win, and confirming his trainer’s opinion that he needed to “creep, creep and be held up for one good, long run.”
Amberleigh House ran in the Grand National twice more, finishing tenth behind Hedgehunter in 2005 and being pulled up before the fence before Becher’s Brook on the second circuit behind Numbersixvalverde in 2006. By then a 14-year-old, he was retired immediately afterwards and spent the remainder of his life at the National Stud in Newmarket and later, at the yard of trainer Lisa Williamson, the sister-in-law of John Halewood, in Kelsall, Cheshire. He made his last public appearance on April 8, 2017, but fell ill after parading on Grand National Day and died of complications, after contracting colic, later that month. Williamson said, “We did everything we could to save him. He was operated on, but unfortunately he didn’t make it.”