Grand National History

The grand national history is extremely rich. It is believed by some that the first grand national race was in 1836 and was won by a horse called 'The Duke'. The Duke won the race again the following year. Some believe that this was not a true grand national and was run in Maghull as opposed to Aintree. The first official Grand National at the Aintree racecourse is more commonly believed to be in 1839 and was won by the horse 'Lottery'. Aintree racesourse was closed for three years during World War One so an alternative race was run at Gatwick Racecourse (which is now Gatwick Airport). The first of these races was run in 1916 and was called the 'Racecourse Association Steeplechase'. In the following 2 years however this became known as the 'War National Steeplechase'. These races are not always recognised as true 'Grand Nationals'.

During the 1950's the National was pretty much dominated by a Vincent O'Brien who had trained the winner of the grand national race for 3 consecutive years between '53 and '55. The 1967 grand national was won by 'Foinavon', which was ridden by a Johnny Buckingham. Two loose horses pulled up in front of the pack and caused the other horses still running to stop. Foinavon was running well behind so therefore managed to avoid the trouble and come home with odds of 100/1! The most successful horse in the Grand National's history was of course Red Rum. Red Run was the only horse to win 3 times - 1973, 1974, and in 1977.

1993 saw the result of the grand national being declared void after a range of incidents at the start of the race meant the starting tape failed to rise properly. This caused several horses and jockeys to get caught up in the tape. In the end a false start was declared but unfortunately lack of communication between the racecourse officials meant that the majority of the 39 jockeys did not realise and they started the race and carried on. Officials did try and stop the horses by waving flags, however many of the jockeys thought that they were protesters and so continued to carry on with the race. Seven horses did run the course and complete it which forced a 'void'. Then came the drama of 1997. The meeting was abandoned after two bomb threats were received, reportedly from the Provisional IRA. Everybody were evacuated including the 60 thousand who had turned up to see the race. The race was at last run on the following Monday.