[4] As a three-year-old gelding, Rule The World was consigned to the Tattersalls Ireland National Hunt sale in June 2010 and was bought for €90,000 by Mouse Morris.

[5] During his racing career, Rule The World was owned by Ryanair executive Michael O'Leary,[6] and trained by Morris at Fethard in County Tipperary.

He was then dropped to Grade 3 class for the Limestone Lad Hurdle at Naas in January and won by seven and a half length from Jennies Jewel after leading from the start.

In the spring of 2015 he was matched against more experienced opponents in the Irish Grand National and finished second of the twenty-eight starters, four lengths behind the winner Thunder and Roses.

On 6 March he made a second attempt to win the Kilcock Novice Chase but finished fourth behind Sub Lieutenant, another O'Leary-owned horse.

Up to that point he had been considered a contender for one of the long distance chases at the Cheltenham Festival,[12] but his disappointing performance led to him bypassing the meeting.

On 9 April 2016 Rule The World started a 33/1 outsider for the Grand National in a field which included Many Clouds, Silviniaco Conti, Sir Des Champs, Shutthefrontdoor and 34 others.

[13] Ridden by the 19 year old David Mullins he tracked the leaders for most of the way and survived a mistake at the fourth last fence before moving up into contention on the final turn.