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Lord Sefton lays foundation stone for the Grandstand at Aintree. Beneath the stone a bottle of sovereigns is buried! The venue is credited to being the idea of William Lynn, a publican from Liverpool.
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The first race meeting is held at Aintree, it is a flat racing event. The winner of the opening Croxteth Stakes is Mufti, and is raced over a trip of 1m2f’s.
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First jumps meeting at Aintree, the event is confined to hurdles and Captain Beecher wins two races.
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In an imitation of the Great St Albans Chase William Lynn runs the first Great Liverpool Chase, the fore-runner of the National. The Duke wins, ridden by Captain Martin Beecher.
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The second running of what is now viewed as an unofficial Grand National, it is run at Maghull not Aintree, and again goes to The Duke and Captain Beecher.
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The final unofficial Grand National goes to Sir William. The Great St Albans Chase ends, leaving the path open for the Liverpool race to grow. A railway station is built near the course to facilitate transport of horses from over the Country. A syndicate of race organisers is convened, most are aristocratic, the plans are set for the launch of what will become the Grand National. Leading members include Lord Derby and William Lynn.
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The first of what is now regarded as a Grand National takes place, the winner began it’s career as Chance, but was renamed Lottery. The winner was a superb horse who would be handicapped grossly in the next two renewals of the race.
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Edward Topham, an established handicapper and member of the event organising committee establishes the race as a handicap, having previously been a weight for age event with ad-hoc handicaps applied for specific winners of named events (the main horse penalised being Lottery).
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Matthew becomes the first Irish trained winner of the Grand National.
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Huntsman wins for France, owned and ridden by Frenchmen. However the horse was previously owned and trained (as well as bred) in England, so doesn’t go down in history as a true French raider!
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Count Kinsky wins on Zoedrone, the horse being Austrian owned and ridden, but English bred and trained.
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Moifa becomes the first non British/Irish bred and trained winner. The giant New Zealand horse carried 10st 7lb’s when winning after benefiting from a generously low handicap.
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Aintree is requisitioned by the War Office, there is a replacement race at Gatwick (now the site of the Airport). 1916’s race was titled the “Racecourse Association Steeplechase”. The fences were considerably easier than the National, only one horse fell out of a field of 21. Victory went to Vermouth. The circuit was right handed (obviously unlike the Aintree National format) but measured the same 4m4f.
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Gatwick again hosts the race, this time called “The War National Steeplechase”, victory goes to Ballymacad with a Devon Loch type hard luck story for Limerock who was leading comfortably over the last before collapsing in a fall. The speculation for Limerock’s misfortune was that the unfortunate horse slipped on a patch of ground left unsafe after the recent snowfall. The owner of the winner (Sir George Bullough) donated the £1000 winnings to a charity for blinded soldiers.
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Ernie Piggot (Grandfather of Lester) wins the last “Gatwick National” aboard Poethlyn, who would go on to win the 1919 Grand National.
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Jockey William Dutton heard a friend shout “Billy boy, you’ll only win if all the others fall down” before he set off on 100/1 shot Tipperary Tim. This prediction proved prophetic as in heavy fog a first circuit pile up approaching the Canal Turn left only Tipperary Tim and Great Span unscathed. The saddle slipped on Great Span, and Dutton was left unopposed to steal the prize!
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“Oh, that’s racing” the Queen Mother said shortly after her Devon Loch and Dick Francis had spectacularly belly flopped on the run in when victory was looking assured.
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Two Russian horses are sent over by the Soviets. Due to having no British form they are made to carry top-weight, both Relief and Grifel are chalked up at 100/1 and race accordingly.
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Beecher’s Brook would get its name from the very first National, but the Foinavon fence would only get christened with a name after 1967’s race when Foinavon benefitted from Popham Down’s fall precipitating chaotic mass refusals/unseatings at the 23rd fence. Foinavon returned the winner at odds of 100/1!
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Red Rum wins his third and last Grand National. Having been bought for only £420 the most famous ever National horse carried the top weight of 11st 8lbs and was the grand age of 12. The following year he was a hot Ante-Post favourite, but was withdrawn ahead of the race due to an injured foot. The horse retired to fame, adulation, and occasional trips to Walthamstow dogs on gala nights.
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Bob Champion overcomes testicular cancer and Aldaniti returns from chronic leg injuries to win the National. The story would be turned into the film “Champions” and star John Hurt as the courageous jockey.
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Jenny Pitman becomes the first female to train a National winner, as Corbiere takes the prize.
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After much uncertainty regarding the future of Aintree race track, and the National itself drinks producer Seagram step in as sponsors offering the stable platform for the race to survive to this day.
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Seagram’s sponsorship ends, but coincidentally the winning horse in ’91 was also called Seagram.
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Days before John Major would surprise the pollsters by winning the election, Party Politics took the National.
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A false start ruins the National, with 30 of 39 riders completing. Officials tried to stop the race, but this was taken for interference by animal-rights activists. Esha Ness “won” the voided race in the second fastest ever time.
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Two coded IRA bomb threats are taken sufficiently seriously to see the race cancelled and every vehicle in the car park impounded leaving thousands stranded. The race is run on the Monday with 20,000 free tickets offered by the race sponsors. Bookmaker’s rules officially stated that as it was a postponement bets struck after 10am on the Saturday would by rule stand, but the layers elected to give people the option to cancel their gambles if they wished. Punters who hadn’t been tipped 14/1 winner Lord Gyllene wished that they had cancelled their bets!
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John Smith’s take over as Grand National sponsor.
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Mon More becomes the longest priced Grand National Winner for 42 years, and also the first trained by a female (ex jockey Venetia Williams) since Jenny Pitman.
