Grand Lodge was bred by his owner John Scott-Ellis, 9th Baron Howard de Walden, who also owned and bred The Derby winner Slip Anchor and the champion miler Kris He was sired by Chief's Crown out of Lord Howard de Walden's unraced mare La Papagena.

Chief's Crown won the 1984 Breeders' Cup Juvenile and was voted the Eclipse Award for Outstanding Two-Year-Old Male Horse.

[3] Grand Lodge was trained throughout his career by William "Willie" Jarvis at the Phantom House stables at Newmarket, Suffolk.

When Grand Lodge ran, Jarvis often wore an apricot-coloured rose as a button-hole, to match the silks of Lord Howard de Walden.

He was made 9/4 favourite and led inside the final furlong to beat Stonehatch and Nicolotte in a driving finish.

His only win came at Royal Ascot where he ran on under a strong ride from Michael Kinane to beat Distant View by a head in the St James's Palace Stakes.