Earth Summit was bought by a six-man partnership aptly named The Summit Partnership, in 1992 (including footballer Ricky George, Aintree press officer Nigel Payne, Partner in an accountancy firm Peter Earl, retired businessman Gordon Perry, local government officer Mike Bailey and media buying agency proprietor Bob Sims) and began his racing career as a four-year-old, finishing second in a bumper (a National Hunt flat race) at Cheltenham.
In a thirty-seven-race career that spanned eight years, Earth Summit fell only once, when in the lead, jumping the second last fence at Cheltenham in 1995.
On 27 December 1997, barely seven weeks after his comeback race, Earth Summit won the Welsh National at Chepstow, returning odds of 25 to 1.
At Aintree on 4 April 1998, Earth Summit jumped his way into the history books, when, having shared the lead with Suny Bay for the last third of the Martell Grand National, he pulled clear before the second last, running on to win the biggest horse race in the world by eleven lengths.
No other horse in history, including Red Rum, has ever won the Aintree Grand National and the Scottish and Welsh equivalents.