Aintree Grand National – A Guide To The World’s Greatest Steeplechase

Though supporters of the Melbourne Cup, Kentucky Derby, Epsom Derby and Cheltenham Gold Cup might object, there is little doubt that, purely as a spectacle, the Aintree Grand National is the world’s greatest horse race.

Run over 4m4f at the iconic track on the outskirts of Liverpool, the race has featured in Hollywood films and is pivotal to the fortunes of bookmakers as well as being a massive money-earner for businesses on Merseyside, many of which rely on the three-day Grand National Festival for their yearly income. It’s difficult not to underestimate the impact that the cancellation of the 2020 race had on the area.

Grand National History

The Grand National at Aintree has been a British sporting institution since 1839.
Lottery won the inaugural race and there was never a more aptly-named winner.

The subject of countless sweepstakes down the years and bets which must number in the billions, it’s a race in which most of the population wants an interest and most will back more than one runner.

In that first-ever race, the famous or infamous Captain Becher ended up in the brook which was to adopt his name (more on that later)

The racecourse was the brainchild of William Lynn. He part-owned and ran the nearby Waterloo Hotel and leased land in Aintree from William Molyneux, 2nd Earl of Sefton.

Lynn designed a course and built a grandstand and Lord Sefton laid the foundation stone on 7 February 1829.

It was originally known as the Grand Liverpool Steeplechase but it’s name was changed to the Aintree Grand National in 1839.

Amateur Dick Saunders, aged 48, was the oldest successful rider on Grittar in 1982. It was his first and only Grand National ride and he retired shortly after.
Bruce Hobbs, aged 17, was the youngest winning jockey in 1939, on Battleship, who was also the smallest horse ever to win.
Jenny Pitman was the trailblazer for women trainers as she captured the race for the first time with Corbiere in 1983 and again with Royal Athlete in 1995. Venetia Williams, Sue Smith and Lucinda Russell have since followed in in her footsteps.

Ironically, it was the demise of another popular steeplechase which opened the door for the Aintree Grand National to stake a claim to be the world’s greatest horse race.
The Great St. Albans Chase disappeared in 1838, just at the time the Grand National was gaining momentum. With the new-fangled railway recently arrived in Liverpool, the public suddenly had easy access to Aintree and the Grand National quickly too off as annual pilgrimage for sports fans, not just across Lancashire but from the Midlands and the South as well.
It was also around this time than Lynn handed over the running of the race to colleague Edward Topham and he He turned the chase into a handicap from a weight-for-age race in 1843 – just over a century later, the Topham family were to buy the course and one of the big races at the Grand National Festival is still named in their honour.

Grand National – Aintree’s Most Famous Fences

Becher’s Brook is synonymous with the Grand National.
The sixth fence on the first circuit, the obstacle was named after the unfortunate Captain Martin Becher who was unseated from his mount, Conrad, and fell into the ditch after the fences when leading in the first-ever Grand National in 1839.
It has a significant drop from take-off to landing side and is also on a left turn.
Valentine’s was named after a horse who is reputed to have jumped the fence hind legs first in 1840. It is 5ft high and 3ft wide with a 6ft open ditch on the take-off side.
The Chair is both the tallest and broadest fence on the Grand National course. It has a 6ft-wide ditch on the take-off side but is jumped only once. The water jump is the only other fence to be negotiated just the once.
The Canal Turn is made of hawthorn stakes covered in Norway spruce. It gets its name from the fact that there is a canal in front of the horses when they land. To avoid it, they must turn a full 90 degrees to the left when they touch down.
Foinavon is one of only two fences named after horses.
The fence is nothing special but it commemorates the point at which the 100/1 outsider profited from carnage among the leaders to steal a march and win the 1967 race.

Grand National Winners Last 50 Years

YEAR:	HORSE	JOCKEY	TRAINER	ODDS
2019	Tiger Roll	Davy Russell	Gordon Elliott	4/1
2018	Tiger Roll	Davy Russell	Gordon Elliott	10/1
2017	One for Arthur	Derek Fox	Lucinda Russell	14/1
2016	Rule The World	David Mullins	Mouse Morris	33/1
2015	Many Clouds	Leighton Aspell	Oliver Sherwood	25/1
2014	Pineau De Re	Leighton Aspell	Dr R. Newland	25/1
2013	Auroras Encore	Ryan Mania	Sue Smith	66/1
2012	Neptune Collonges	Daryl Jacob	Paul Nicholls	33/1
2011	Ballabriggs	Jason Maguire	Donald McCain Jnr	14/1
2010	Don’t Push It	A.P. McCoy	Jonjo O’Neill	25/1
2009	Mon Mome	Liam Treadwell	Venetia Williams	100/1
2008	Comply or Die	Timmy Murphy	David Pipe	7/1
2007	Silver Birch	Robbie Power	Gordon Elliott	33/1
2006	Numbersixvalverde	Niall Madden	Martin Brassil	11/1
2005	Hedgehunter	Ruby Walsh	Willie Mullins	7/1
2004	Amberleigh House	Graham Lee	Donald McCain	16/1
2003	Monty’s Pass	B.Geraghty	Jimmy Mangan	16/1
2002	Bindaree	Jim Culloty	N.Twiston-Davies	20/1
2001	Red Marauder	Richard Guest	Norman Mason	33/1
2000	Papillon	Ruby Walsh	Ted Walsh	10/1
1999	Bobbyjo	Paul Carberry	T. Carberry	10/1
1998	Earth Summit	Carl Llewellyn	N Twiston-Davies	7/1
1997	Lord Gyllene	Tony Dobbin	S.Brookshaw	14/1
1996	Rough Quest	Mick Fitzgerald	Terry Casey	7/1
1995	Royal Athlete	Jason Titley	Jenny Pitman	14/1
1994	Miinnehoma	R. Dunwoody	Martin Pipe	16/1
1993	VOID RACE	VOID RACE	VOID RACE	VOID
1992	Party Politics	Carl Llewellyn	Nick Gaselee	14/1
1991	Seagram	Nigel Hawke	David Barons	12/1
1990	Mr Frisk	M. Armytage	Kim Bailey	16/1
1989	Little Polveir	Jimmy Frost	Toby Balding	28/1
1988	Rhyme n Reason	Brendan Powell	David Elsworth	10/1
1987	Maori Venture	Steve Knight	Andrew Turnell	28/1
1986	West Tip	R. Dunwoody	Michael Oliver	15/2
1985	Last Suspect	Hywel Davies	Tim Forster	50/1
1984	Hallo Dandy	Neale Doughty	Gordon Richards	13/1
1983	Corbiere	Ben de Haan	Jenny Pitman	13/1
1982	Grittar	Dick Saunders	Frank Gilman	7/1
1981	Aldaniti	Bob Champion	Josh Gifford	10/1
1980	Ben Nevis	C.Fenwick	Tim Forster	40/1
1979	Rubstic	Maurice Barnes	J. Leadbetter	25/1
1978	Lucius	Bob Davies	G.Richards	14/1
1977	Red Rum	Tommy Stack	Donald McCain	9/1
1976	Rag Trade	John Burke	Fred Rimmell	14/1
1975	L’Escargot	T. Carberry	Dan Moore	13/2
1974	Red Rum	Brian Fletcher	Donald McCain	11/1
1973	Red Rum	Brian Fletcher	Donald McCain	9/1
1972	Well To Do	G. Thorner	Tim Forster	14/1
1971	Specify	John Cook	John Sutcliffe	28/1
1970	Gay Trip	Pat Taaffe	Fred Rimmell	15/1

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Grand National Greats

There is only one place to start – RED RUM.
A freak of nature, the Grand National legend won three races on the Flat as befits his pedigree before being bought by Donald ‘Ginger’ McCain to go jumping.
Trained on Southport sands from the back of his handler’s car dealership, the Quorum gelding went on to run 100 times and win a record three Grand Nationals at Aintree as swell as a Scottish Grand National at Ayr. His achievements were all the more special given he suffered from bone disease in one of his hooves.
Still a celebrity even after retirement, Red Rum went on to reach the grand old age of 30 and is buried at Aintree racecourse.

MANIFESTO recorded the first of his two victories in 1897. He was to run eight times in the race up to the age of 16, also finishing third three times and fourth once.

In 1934, the great GOLDEN MILLER became the only horse ever to win the Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup in the same season. He carried 12st 2lb at Aintree and won in a then-record time.

In 1956, DEVON LOCH and jockey Dick Francis, later to become a popular novelist, looked certain to give The Queen Mother victory in the big race when going clear on the run-in. Inexplicably, however, the horse suddenly belly-flopped on the ground yards from the winning post, allowing ESB to win. Some speculate he went to hurdle the water jump on the other side of the running rail – we’ll never know!

ALDANITI won the race in 1981 having been nursed back from career-threatening injury three times, But that was only half the story as he was ridden by cancer-survivor Bob Champion. The late John Hurt was later to play the jockey in a major feature film.

In 1997, LORD GYLLENE won the Grand National that nearly never was.
Postponed on the Saturday after bomb threats were received from the IRA. The police evacuated jockeys, trainers, owners, the media, local residents and 60,000 spectators before searching Aintree to no avail.
Showing unparalleled flexibility, the race was eventually run on the following Monday evening.

Just fours years earlier, ESHA NESS had won the race that never was.
All but nine jockey failed to see that a second false start had been signalled and ran some or all of the two circuits of Aintree. The race was declared void and not rerun.

TIGER ROLL could yet join Red Rum in becoming a three-times winner but hopes of a third straight victory in the Grand National were thwarted by the shutdown of racing in 2020 due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Gordon Elliott’s stayer has a similar profile to the Aintree legend being bred for the Flat but he’s won five times at the Cheltenham Festival as well as twice at Liverpool and his popularity and place in the record books is already assured.

Grand National Betting at Betfred

Grand National Trends

• It is 80 years since a seven-year-old won the Grand National – this is not a race for young, inexperienced chasers
• Since 1978, only two winners have carried more than 11st 5lb
• Only one of the last 12 winners hadn’t won over more than 3m previously
• All of the last 12 winners had run at least 10 times over fences previously

Early Betting for the 2021 Randox Health Grand National

Tiger Roll 25/1
Burrows Saint, Easysland, The Conditional, Any Second Now and Kildisart 33/1
Vinndication, Presenting Percy, Champagne Classic, Magic Of Light, Potters Corner and Kimberlite Candy 40/1
Ok Corral, Ballyoptic, Bristol De Mai, Definitly Red, Native River, Ravenhill, Milan Native, Discorama, Walk In The Mill, Copperhead and Le Breuil 50/1
(Odds correct at 15.45 GMT March 24, 2020)

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