[1] He was sired by Indian River, a top-class jumper in his native France, where his wins included the Prix du Président de la République.
[3] Native River began his racing career on the amateur point-to-point circuit, unseating his rider at the Dromahane meeting on 17 March 2014.
[5] In March he made his first appearance at the Cheltenham Festival where he started a 40/1 outsider for the Spa Novices' Hurdle and came home ninth of the ten finishers.
A sixteen-length win at Exeter followed before the gelding was stepped up in class for the Worcester Novices' Chase over three miles at Newbury Racecourse on 26 November.
Ridden as in most of his races up to then by Brendan Powell he took the lead approaching the final fence and drew away to win by almost four lengths from Un Temps Pour Tout.
On his final appearance of the year Native River was sent to Aintree Racecourse in April for the Mildmay Novices' Chase in which he started the 11/2 third favourite behind Un Temps Pour Tout and Blaklion, both of whom had won at Cheltenham.
Native River began his fourth campaign by finishing second to Silsol in the West Yorkshire Hurdle at Wetherby Racecourse in October before returning to steeplechase fences.
Racing in first or second place for most of the way he took a clear lead after the final fence and held off the late challenge of the outsider Carole's Destrier to win by half a length.
[12] On 17 March the gelding started the 7/2 second favourite behind Djakadam for the 2017 Cheltenham Gold Cup and disputed the lead for most of the way before finishing third, beaten two and three quarter lengths and a short head by Sizing John and Minella Rocco.
[13] The 2018 edition of the Cheltenham Gold Cup attracted a field of fifteen and saw Native River start 5/1 third favourite behind Might Bite (King George VI Chase) and Our Duke (Irish Grand National).
Might Bite took the lead two fences out but Native River rallied to regain the advantage at the last obstacle and pulled away on the run-in to win by four and a half lengths.
Ridden by Richard Johnson and starting odds-on favourite in a field of four, he won by 33 lengths after his main rival Might Bite unseated his rider early in the race.
Ridden by Jonjo O'Neill junior, he again started as odds-on favourite and won by two and three-quarter lengths from Secret Investor with Might Bite in third place.
[17] Returning from injury to attempt a second consecutive win in the Many Clouds Chase, Native River was beaten into third place behind outsider Lake View Lad and favourite Santini.
"[18] Native River ran twice more during the season, coming fourth behind Minella Indo in the Cheltenham Gold Cup and third behind Clan des Obeaux in the Betway Bowl at Aintree.
[16] Later that evening, assistant trainer Joe Tizzard announced that the decision had been made to retire Native River, saying: "He's been an absolute legend for us all.
His wins in the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the Hennessy and the Coral Welsh Grand National were all massive, memorable days for Garth and Anne [Broom, the owners] and the whole team.