Cure All: 1845 Grand National Winner

Cure All won the 1845 Grand National (or Grand Liverpool Chase as it was then called) to ensure the race was firmly on the side of the bookmakers, as the horse was listed as un-quoted in the betting market.

The going for the race wasn’t ideal as a period of heavy rain had preceded a heavy frost that made the ground very hard in places. As such the race was delayed until 5pm, actually on the insistence of the winning horse’s owner. One horse was withdrawn as a non-runner, but 15 went to post and helped by the frost-firm going William Loft won the race in a track record winning time of ten minutes forty seven seconds.

The railway track hadn’t been then built at Aintree, and after the race the horse was walked all the way back to Healing in Lincolnshire (near Grimsby), with church bells ringing in celebration! The 1844 winning jockey John Crickmore would come forth on Tom Tug, though tragically before the end of the year would be struck down by consumption and die at the young age of 24.

Cure All had been sold for only £60 after getting seriously injured when demonstrating jumping at a horse sale called the Horncastle Fair. Its breeding was by Physician, out of a mare who did not race.