Many Clouds at Kelso: The Premier Chase Story

Many Clouds was bred in Ireland and trained throughout his career by Oliver Sherwood at Upper Lambourn. A grey son of Cloudings, he was bought to race in the ownership of Trevor Hemmings — the billionaire businessman and passionate racing supporter whose silks have graced some of the most significant horses in National Hunt racing.

Early Career

Many Clouds began over hurdles and showed promise without suggesting he would develop into anything special. His jumping over the smaller obstacles was competent rather than spectacular, and his early form was mixed. The turn came when he switched to fences. Over the larger obstacles, Many Clouds suddenly looked like a different animal: bold, accurate, and willing to put in the long stride when the situation demanded.

He won his first novice chase in 2012 and progressed steadily through the ranks, improving with each season. By the time he arrived at the 2015 Grand National, he was a well-regarded staying chaser with solid form, but he was not a horse many expected to win the big race at Aintree.

The 2015 Grand National

The 2015 Grand National at Aintree changed everything. Many Clouds, ridden by Leighton Aspell, produced a jumping display of relentless accuracy over 30 fences and ran out a clear winner from Saint Are. He was a worthy champion: fluent at every fence, never in trouble, and strong throughout the four-and-a-quarter miles.

Aspell had partnered Many Clouds through much of his career, and the partnership was central to the horse's success. Aspell, a quiet and underrated jockey who had retired briefly before returning to the saddle, understood the horse's rhythm and trusted his jumping. That trust was well-founded. Many Clouds made very few serious errors at fences.

Physical Characteristics and Racing Style

Many Clouds was a striking grey — not the iron grey of some horses but a dappled, almost white colour in the later stages of his career. He was a strong, well-built chaser with a deep girth and the bone to carry weight over long distances. He was not the most extravagant jumper — he rarely took off a long way out — but he was remarkably accurate and rarely lost ground at a fence.

His racing style was economical. He settled into a rhythm in the early stages, used his jumping to keep contact with the leaders, and stayed on powerfully in the final stages of a race. He was a horse who produced his best form on a sound surface, and going that had some cut in it seemed to bring out the best in him.

Career Record and Highs

Across his career, Many Clouds won twelve races and earned over £800,000 in prize money. His Grand National victory in 2015 was the career high, but his form in the following two seasons confirmed that he was a real top-level staying chaser rather than a one-day wonder.

He won the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham in January 2017, producing a stunning front-running display that drew comparisons with the great Arkle. The race was run at Cheltenham, on the same course where so many legendary chasers have made their names, and Many Clouds was devastating. He led from an early stage and simply galloped the opposition into the ground.

The Final Race

Many Clouds ran his last race at Cheltenham in January 2017. After winning the Cotswold Chase that afternoon, he was pulled up after the line, and it became clear that something was seriously wrong. He died shortly afterwards from what his connections described as acute pulmonary haemorrhage. He was nine years old.

The outpouring of feeling after his death was real and widespread. Trevor Hemmings, a man not given to public displays of emotion, was visibly moved. Oliver Sherwood paid tribute to a horse he described as one of the best he had ever trained. Racing fans who had watched him since his novice chase days felt the loss acutely.

He had won his last race. He had given everything.

Kelso is a left-handed galloping course in the Scottish Borders, around a mile and a half around, with long straights and fences that reward accurate jumping. The track's configuration — a slight uphill pull in the back straight, a sweeping left-handed bend, and a run-in that tests reserves of stamina — makes it a more demanding test than its rural setting might suggest.

The Listed Premier Chase

The Premier Chase is Kelso's flagship race: a Listed staying handicap chase run in March over about three miles, with prize money that attracts runners from leading English and Scottish yards. It has established itself as a useful trial for Aintree, with several winners going on to run well in the Grand National and other spring features.

Many Clouds was the most celebrated winner of the race in the modern era. He won it in 2016 off the back of his Grand National triumph and used the performance — a ten-length demolition of a competitive field — as a platform for the 2016 Grand National. He finished 16th at Aintree that year, but the Kelso performance itself had been flawless.

Before 2016, Many Clouds had raced at Kelso twice previously, winning both times. The course suited his style: the long straight gave him room to find his rhythm, the fences were conventional and forgiving of his consistent-but-measured jumping, and the ground conditions in late winter typically produced the sound-to-soft surface he handled best.

The Morebattle Hurdle

Kelso's other major race is the Morebattle Hurdle, a Grade 2 handicap hurdle in March that has established itself as a significant Cheltenham Festival trial. It is run over two miles on a course that rewards pace and jumping accuracy over the smaller obstacles.

The Morebattle attracts a different type of horse to the Premier Chase — speedier hurdlers rather than staying chasers — and it has produced notable winners with future careers at the Cheltenham Festival. Simonsig, who won the race in 2012, went on to win the Arkle Trophy at Cheltenham the following year.

The Supporting Card

Kelso's race meetings are typically well-structured, with the flagship race supported by a mix of novice chases, handicap hurdles, and bumpers. The course's Scottish location means it draws from a wider geographic base than many English courses: Scottish-trained horses from the likes of Sandy Thomson and Lucinda Russell appear regularly alongside visiting runners from leading English yards.

For details on how to approach the card from a betting perspective, see our Kelso betting guide. The key patterns — trainers who travel north to win, horses that improve markedly from a debut at the course, going conditions that shift dramatically between October and March — are all covered there.

Course Conditions and Going

The going at Kelso through the winter months is typically good to soft or soft, with heavy ground possible after prolonged rain. The Scottish Borders climate produces more rainfall than most of England, and the course is exposed to wind from the Cheviots. Horses that demonstrate an ability to handle testing ground tend to perform well here, though the course's drainage has improved significantly in recent years.

Many Clouds won his races at Kelso on going described as good to soft — conditions that suited him well and allowed him to use his stamina without the energy-sapping grip of real heavy ground.

The 2016 Premier Chase: Ten Lengths and Done

The clearest single image from Many Clouds's time at Kelso is his performance in the 2016 Listed Premier Chase. The race had been abandoned at Kelso eight days earlier due to waterlogged ground and rescheduled. Many Clouds, already confirmed as the ante-post favourite for the Grand National defence, arrived as the 11/10 market leader.

He won by ten lengths from Unioniste, a horse who was no mug — Unioniste had been placed in Grade 1 company on more than one occasion. Many Clouds took the lead at the fourth fence, jumped accurately throughout, and drew further away from the field in the final mile. Leighton Aspell barely needed to ask him a question. The horse did it on his own terms.

The ten-length winning margin was the widest any horse had beaten Unioniste by in a race of this quality. Oliver Sherwood watched from the stands and told reporters afterwards that he was delighted — the horse had wintered well, the performance had gone to plan, and the Grand National was next.

Earlier Wins at Kelso

Before the Premier Chase, Many Clouds had already shown he knew his way around Kelso. His earlier visits had both ended in victory, establishing a pattern that made him one of the most reliable performers the Scottish Borders course had seen in recent years.

Those performances were less spectacular but no less convincing. He was a horse who arrived, did his job, and left intact — exactly what connections needed from prep races heading into the spring festivals.

The Aspell Partnership

One of the most enduring images from Many Clouds's career is Leighton Aspell crossing the Grand National finish line in 2015 with his arm raised, the big grey powering home to complete the course with fences to spare. That image began, in a sense, at Kelso — where Aspell had ridden him in those earlier wins and built the mutual understanding that made them such a reliable combination.

Aspell was a jockey who never received the recognition his ability deserved. When Many Clouds was at his best — jumping fluently, travelling well, finding more in the straight — the partnership looked effortless. Kelso was where some of that groundwork was laid.

After Kelso, Before Cheltenham

The 2016 Premier Chase was Many Clouds's final race before the Grand National, and the performance satisfied Sherwood that the horse had come through the winter in good order. In a sport where prep races often do more harm than good — horses that run in March can lose condition before April — the Kelso outing was precisely what it needed to be: race-fit, confidence-boosting, and physically undemanding.

He finished 16th at Aintree that April, behind Rule the World. But the season continued, and his career did not end there — he would go on to win the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham the following January in one of the great staying chase performances of the decade.

Many Clouds's legacy at Kelso is specific: he is the most decorated horse to have run in the Listed Premier Chase, and his ten-length victory in 2016 remains the standard against which subsequent winners are measured. For a course that exists comfortably outside the national spotlight, having a Grand National champion as part of its recent history gives the Premier Chase a profile it might not otherwise carry.

What His Career Meant for the Course

The relationship between a horse and a racecourse is partly about what the horse does there, and partly about what happens next. Many Clouds did his job at Kelso — winning efficiently, arriving and departing intact — and then went on to produce some of the finest staying chase performances of the 2010s. That subsequent career reflects well on the Premier Chase. When people look back at the race's winners' list, they find a Grand National champion.

For Kelso, which competes with Ayr and Musselburgh for the attention of Scottish jump racing fans, having that association matters. The course's complete history contains other distinguished names, but Many Clouds is among the most recognisable to a general racing audience.

The Trainer's View

Oliver Sherwood trained Many Clouds throughout his career and used Kelso as a key preparation venue for the spring festivals. His willingness to make the journey north — from Upper Lambourn to the Scottish Borders — reflected confidence in what Kelso offered: reliable ground conditions in late winter, a real staying test, and a well-run meeting.

That pattern has been followed by other leading southern trainers in the years since. The Premier Chase continues to attract runners from outside Scotland, which strengthens both its competitive depth and its significance as a trial.

Staying Chasers at Kelso

Many Clouds's performances at Kelso sit within a longer tradition. The course has always rewarded real staying chasers over bold-jumping types: the configuration — long straight, testing fences, ground that thickens through the winter — asks horses to stay and jump, not just to quicken. Many Clouds embodied both requirements.

The horses who have run best at Kelso through its history share that profile: strong, accurate, durable. Many Clouds was all three.

A Horse That Gave Everything

The manner of his death — collapsing after winning the Cotswold Chase in January 2017, having given everything he had in the race — meant that his career ended in the most bittersweet way possible. He died unbeaten in his final season, having just won one of the great staying chase performances the sport had seen in years.

At Kelso, where he had been reliable and effective across multiple visits, that ending is remembered with something more than statistics. He was a horse who did what good horses do: showed up, competed honestly, and left an impression.