Nicolaus Silver, a grey horse was bred in County Tipperary, Ireland, by James Heffernan.
After racing in Ireland, his trainer Dan Kirwan of Lower Grange, Gowran, County Kilkenny, died suddenly in 1960 which led the eight year old grey to be sold at the Dublin Ballsbridge sales in November 1960 where he had a keen bidding in the knowledge that the horse was already qualified for the Aintree Grand National and was bought for £2,600 by Charles Vaughan.
At that time, Nicolaus Silver was only the second grey horse to win the Aintree Grand National since its first running in 1839.
Ridden by jockey Bobby Beasley Nicolaus Silver started at odds of 28/1 in a field of thirty-five runners for the 1961 National.
[4] Nicolaus Silver completed the course in the next two Grand Nationals, finishing seventh in 1962 and tenth in 1963.