Born in Southport on June 13, 1970, Donald McCain Jnr. is the son of the late Donald ‘Ginger’ McCain, who saddled the legendary Red Rum to win the Grand National an unprecedented three times, in 1973, 1974 and 1977, and won the celebrated steeplechase again with Amberleigh House in 2004. Having learnt his trade with the likes of Luca Cumani, Oliver Sherwood and Sir Michael Stoute, and as assistant to his father, McCain took over the licence at his current base, Bankhouse Stables in Cholmondeley, Cheshire, in 2006.
McCain saddled his first winner in his own right, Bearaway, ridden by Timmy Murphy, in a handicap chase at Newton Abbott on June 8, 2006. In his inaugural season in charge, he saddled a total of 40 winners under National Hunt Rules, but gradually increased his seasonal tally and reached the landmark of 100 winners in a season for the first time in 2010/11. Fittingly, that was the season in which he emulated his father by saddling the Grand National winner, Ballabriggs, owned by the late Trevor Hemmings and ridden by Jason Maguire.
Indeed, Ballabriggs, who won the Fulke Walwyn Kim Muir Challenge Cup in 2010, was also the first of five Cheltenham Festival winners for the yard so far. The others were Cloudy Lane in the same race in 2007, Peddlers Cross in the Baring Bingham Novices’ Hurdle, also in 2010, and Cinders And Ashes in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle and Son Of Flicka in the Coral Cup, both in 2012.
Although one of the most successful National Hunt trainers in the North of England, McCain is no stranger to high-profile success on the Flat either. He has won the Northumberland Plate twice, with Overturn in 2010 and Il De Re in 2012, and the Chester Cup twice, with the same two horses in 2011 and 2012 respectively.
