THE GRAND NATIONAL HORSE HUNT HANDICAP RACE AINTREE

THE GRAND NATIONAL

The Grand National is the most valuable National Hunt handicap horse race in the United Kingdom. It is the biggest betting race in the United Kingdom, and is popular amongst many people who do not watch horse racing at other times of the year.

Event

It is usually held on a Saturday in early April at the Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool. The steeplechase is run over two circuits of the Aintree course, covering four and half miles (7.2 km). There are 16 fences on the track, 14 of which are jumped twice. Some of these have acquired near-legendary status for their severity, particularly Becher's Brook and The Chair, although in recent years this severity has been much reduced due to pressure from various animal rights groups. The National is the centerpiece of a three-day meeting, one of only four run at Aintree in the racing season.

History

There is much debate among historians regarding the first official race held and most who have trawled the newspaper libraries of the United Kingdom now prefer the idea that the first running was in 1836 and was won by The Duke. This same horse triumphed again in 1837 while Sir William was the winner in 1838. These races have long been disregarded because of the belief that the 1837 & 1838 runnings took place at Maghull and not Aintree. In the last twenty years, several race historians have unearthed indisputable evidence that these three races were all run over the same course at Aintree and were regarded as having been Grand Nationals up until the mid 1860s. To date though, their calls for the Nationals of 1836-38 to be restored to the record books have been ignored.

In 1923, Sergeant Murphy became the first American-bred horse to win the Grand National.

By far the most successful horse in Grand National history was Red Rum, the only horse to win three times, in 1973, 1974, and in 1977. He also came in second in the two intervening years, 1975 and 1976.

A fictional account of a young girl training the winner of the Grand National by Enid Bagnold was made into a film, National Velvet, starring the young Elizabeth Taylor as the heroine, Velvet Brown. The events surrounding the 1981 National, and the winning jockey, Bob Champion, were also dramatised in the film Champions.

The 1967 running was won by rank outsider Foinavon ridden by Johnny Buckingham after a melee at the 23rd fence, when two loose horses pulled up in front of the field, causing the rest to fall, stop, or refuse. Foinavon was running so far behind, that Buckingham managed to avoid the carnage and Foinavon scraped round ahead of 17 remounted horses, coming home at odds of 100/1

In 1993, the result of the race was declared void after a series of incidents at the start, where the starting tape failed to rise correctly, causing several horses and jockeys to be caught up in it. A false start was declared, but lack of communication between course officials meant that seven horses ran the course in its entirety, forcing a void result. The 'winner' of those horses which ran was Esha Ness, ridden by John White and trained by Jenny Pitman.

In 1997, the Saturday meeting was abandoned after two coded bomb threats were received, reportedly from the Provisional Irish Republican Army. 60,000 spectators, jockeys, race personnel and local residents were evacuated, and the course was secured by police. The race was eventually run on the Monday, with the meeting organisers offering free admission. Some 20,000 people were left stranded over the weekend, with cars and coaches locked in the course. With limited accommodation space in the city and surrounding areas, those local residents not affected by the incident opened their doors and took in many of those stranded.

The Grand National is one of ten events reserved for live broadcast on UK terrestrial television under the ITC Code on Sports and Other Listed Events.

Jockey unseated - Grand National

Trivia

1853 The oldest ever winning horse in the race - Peter Simple, aged 15.
1900 The winning horse Ambush II was owned by the Prince of Wales - the future King Edward VII.
1905 Kirkland, based in Pembrokeshire, is the only winner to be trained in Wales.
1927 The first BBC radio commentary of the race, by Meyrick Good and George Allison.
1929 The biggest ever field for the race - 66 runners.
1934 The only horse to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Grand National in the same season - Golden Miller.
1938 The youngest ever winning jockey in the race - Bruce Hobbs, aged 17, on Battleship.
1951 The most recent mare to win the race - Nickel Coin (twelve mares have won in total).
1956 Devon Loch, owned by the Queen Mother and ridden by Dick Francis, was in the lead and certain to win when he inexplicably leapt and unseated the jockey on the run-in, 50 yards (45 metres) from the finish, giving victory to E.S.B.
1961 The most recent grey horse to win the race - Nicolaus Silver. The only previous grey to win was The Lamb (1868 and 1871).
1962 Wyndburgh finished runner-up for the third time, but was never to win the race.
1975 The second Cheltenham Gold Cup winner to win the Grand National - L'Escargot.
1977 The first female jockey to ride in the race - Charlotte Brew on Barony Fort, who refused at the fourth fence from home.
1979 Rubstic, based in Roxburghshire, was the first winner to be trained in Scotland.
1981 Bob Champion, who had been diagnosed with cancer and told he only had months to live in 1979, was the winning jockey on Aldaniti, who had almost been retired because of leg trouble.
1982 The oldest ever winning jockey in the race - Dick Saunders, aged 48, on Grittar.
1982 The first female jockey to complete the race - Geraldine Rees, finishing 8th on Cheers.
1983 The first woman to train the winner - Jenny Pitman, with Corbiere.
1984 The greatest number of horses to finish the race - 23.
1991 The race was won by a horse called Seagram - coincidentally the race was sponsored at the time by the company Seagram.
1992 Party Politics won the race just five days before the 1992 UK General Election.
1994 The winning horse Miinnehoma was owned by the comedian Freddie Starr.
2005 The race was moved back by 25 minutes due to the wedding of Prince Charles and Camilla Parker Bowles.

RESULTS 1950-1999

Year	Winner	Age	Weight	Jockey	Trainer	Odds
1950	Freebooter	9	11-11	Jimmy Power	Bobby Renton	10/1
1951	Nickel Coin - m	9	10-01	John Bullock	Jack O'Donoghue	40/1
1952	Teal	10	10-12	Arthur Thompson	Neville Crump	100/7
1953	Early Mist	8	11-02	Bryan Marshall	Vincent O'Brien	20/1
1954	Royal Tan	10	11-07	Bryan Marshall	Vincent O'Brien	8/1
1955	Quare Times	9	11-10	Pat Taaffe	Vincent O'Brien	100/9
1956	E.S.B.	10	11-03	Dave Dick	Fred Rimell	100/7
1957	Sundew	11	11-07	Fred Winter	Frank Hudson	20/1
1958	Mr What	8	10-06	Arthur Freeman	Tom Taaffe	18/1
1959	Oxo	8	10-13	Michael Scudamore	Willie Stephenson	8/1
1960	Merryman II	9	10-12	Gerry Scott	Neville Crump	13/2 F
1961	Nicolaus Silver	9	10-01	Bobby Beasley	Fred Rimell	28/1
1962	Kilmore	12	10-04	Fred Winter	Ryan Price	28/1
1963	Ayala	9	10-00	Pat Buckley	Keith Piggott	66/1
1964	Team Spirit	12	10-03	George Robinson	Fulke Walwyn	18/1
1965	Jay Trump	8	11-05	Mr Tommy Smith	Fred Winter	100/8
1966	Anglo	8	10-00	Tim Norman	Fred Winter	50/1
1967	Foinavon	9	10-00	John Buckingham	John Kempton	100/1
1968	Red Alligator	9	10-00	Brian Fletcher	Denys Smith	100/7
1969	Highland Wedding	12	10-04	Eddie Harty	Toby Balding	100/9
1970	Gay Trip	8	11-05	Pat Taaffe	Fred Rimell	15/1
1971	Specify	9	10-13	John Cook	John Sutcliffe	28/1
1972	Well To Do	9	10-01	Graham Thorner	Tim Forster	14/1
1973	Red Rum	8	10-05	Brian Fletcher	Ginger McCain	9/1 JF
1974	Red Rum	9	12-00	Brian Fletcher	Ginger McCain	11/1
1975	L'Escargot	12	11-03	Tommy Carberry	Dan Moore	13/2
1976	Rag Trade	10	10-12	John Burke	Fred Rimell	14/1
1977	Red Rum	12	11-08	Tommy Stack	Ginger McCain	9/1
1978	Lucius	9	10-09	Bob Davies	Gordon Richards	14/1
1979	Rubstic	10	10-00	Maurice Barnes	John Leadbetter	25/1
1980	Ben Nevis	12	10-12	Mr Charlie Fenwick	Tim Forster	40/1
1981	Aldaniti	11	10-13	Bob Champion	Josh Gifford	10/1
1982	Grittar	9	11-05	Mr Dick Saunders	Frank Gilman	7/1 F
1983	Corbiere	8	11-04	Ben de Haan	Jenny Pitman	13/1
1984	Hallo Dandy	10	10-02	Neale Doughty	Gordon Richards	13/1
1985	Last Suspect	11	10-05	Hywel Davies	Tim Forster	50/1
1986	West Tip	9	10-11	Richard Dunwoody	Michael Oliver	15/2
1987	Maori Venture	11	10-13	Steve Knight	Andrew Turnell	28/1
1988	Rhyme 'n' Reason	9	11-00	Brendan Powell	David Elsworth	10/1
1989	Little Polveir	12	10-03	Jimmy Frost	Toby Balding	28/1
1990	Mr Frisk	11	10-06	Mr Marcus Armytage	Kim Bailey	16/1
1991	Seagram	11	10-06	Nigel Hawke	David Barons	12/1
1992	Party Politics	8	10-07	Carl Llewellyn	Nick Gaselee	14/1
1993 race declared void because some of the runners failed to be called back after a false start
1994	Miinnehoma	11	10-08	Richard Dunwoody	Martin Pipe	16/1
1995	Royal Athlete	12	10-06	Jason Titley	Jenny Pitman	40/1
1996	Rough Quest	10	10-07	Mick Fitzgerald	Terry Casey	7/1 F
1997	Lord Gyllene	9	10-00	Tony Dobbin	Steve Brookshaw	14/1
1998	Earth Summit	10	10-05	Carl Llewellyn	Nigel Twiston-Davies	7/1 F
1999	Bobbyjo	9	10-00	Paul Carberry	Tommy Carberry	10/1

RESULTS 2000 -

Year	Winner	Age	Weight	Jockey	Trainer	Odds
2000	Papillon	9	10-12	Ruby Walsh	Ted Walsh	10/1
2001	Red Marauder	11	10-11	Richard Guest	Norman Mason	33/1
2002	Bindaree	8	10-04	Jim Culloty	Nigel Twiston-Davies	20/1
2003	Monty's Pass	10	10-07	Barry Geraghty	Jimmy Managan	16/1
2004	Amberleigh House	12	10-10	Graham Lee	Ginger McCain	16/1
2005	Hedgehunter	9	11-01	Ruby Walsh	Willie Mullins	7/1 F
2006	Numbersixvalverde	10	10-08	Niall Madden	Martin Brassil	11/1

LINKS

Steve Porter - unofficial history of the Grand National, F A Cup & Football League

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