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Event Information:
The
Grand National is a world-famous
National Hunt horse race which is
held annually at Aintree Racecourse
near Liverpool, England. It is a
handicap chase over a distance of
four miles and 856 yards (7,242 m),
with horses jumping thirty fences
over two circuits of Aintree's
National Course. It is currently
scheduled to take place each year on
a Saturday afternoon in early April.
The
steeplechase is the centrepiece of a
three-day meeting, one of only four
run at Aintree in the racing season.
It is the most valuable National
Hunt event in Britain, offering a
total prize fund of £950,000 in
.The race is popular amongst
many people who do not normally
watch or bet on horse racing at
other times of the year. The Grand
National has always been run over
the same course at Aintree and
consists of two circuits of sixteen
fences, the first fourteen of which
are jumped twice. Participating
horses cover a distance of four
miles and four furlongs, the longest
of any National Hunt race in
Britain. The course is also notable
for having one of the longest
run-ins from the final flight of any
steeplechase, at 494 yards.
The Grand National was designed as a
cross-country steeplechase when it
was first officially run in 1839.
The runners started at a lane on the
edge of the racecourse and raced
away from the course out over open
countryside towards the Leeds and
Liverpool Canal. The gates, hedges
and ditches that they met along the
way were flagged to provide them
with the obstacles to be jumped
along the way with posts and rails
erected at the two points where the
runners jumped a brook. The runners
returned towards the racecourse by
running along the edge of the canal
before re-entering the course at the
opposite end. The runners then ran
the length of the racecourse before
embarking on a second circuit before
finishing in front of the stands.
The majority of the race therefore
took place not on the actual Aintree
Racecourse but instead in the
adjoining countryside. That
countryside was incorporated into
the modern course but commentators
still often refer to it as "the
country", much to the confusion of
millions of once-a-year racing
viewers.
Many
well-known jockeys have failed to
win the Grand National. These
include champion jockeys such as
Terry Biddlecombe, John Francome,
Josh Gifford, Stan Mellor, Jonjo
O'Neill (who never finished the
race), Fred Rimell and Peter
Scudamore. More recently Richard
Johnson and Adrian Maguire have
failed to win the race.
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