60 Fun Facts About Grand National

Aintree Racecourse, home of the Grand National, is in which English county?

The course sits just outside Liverpool, and rail links from London and Birmingham in 1839 helped turn a local chase into a national event.

Under what name was the race first run in 1839?

Some historians argue the true first running was in 1836, won by The Duke, but efforts to restore those races to the record books have failed.

How many fences do the horses jump in the Grand National?

There are 16 fences on the course; 14 are jumped twice, while The Chair and the Water Jump are only taken on the first lap.

Which aptly named horse won the first official Grand National in 1839?

His 14 minutes 53 seconds remains the slowest winning time in the race's history.

Becher's Brook takes its name from a rider who did what at the fence in the first Grand National?

Captain Martin Becher sheltered in the water while the rest of the field thundered over him.

After his ducking, Captain Becher reportedly said water tastes disgusting without the benefits of what?

The landing side of Becher's is 6 to 10 inches lower than the take-off, and jockeys sit back to counter the drop.

Which handicapper made the Grand National a handicap in 1843, his family later buying the course?

The race had been a weight-for-age contest for its first four years.

The Grand National was founded by the proprietor of Liverpool's Waterloo Hotel. Who was he?

He leased the land from the 2nd Earl of Sefton, who laid the grandstand's foundation stone in February 1829.

In WWI, a substitute 'War National Steeplechase' was run at which now-vanished racecourse?

The site is now under Gatwick Airport, and the wartime results are often left out of winners' lists.

When 100/1 shot Tipperary Tim won in 1928, how many horses completed the course, a record low?

His jockey had been told before the race, 'Billy boy, you'll only win if all the others fall down' — and 41 of 42 did.

The largest ever Grand National field ran in 1929. How many horses started?

The smallest field was just 10 runners in 1883, and from 2024 the maximum has been cut to 34.

Which Home Secretary urged moving the Grand National to a Saturday from 1947 so workers could attend?

The 1946 race had been run on a Friday after five wartime years with no National at all.

Which Irish trainer won three straight Grand Nationals from 1953 to 1955?

He later switched to the flat and became one of the greatest trainers of all time.

Which royal owned Devon Loch, who inexplicably collapsed on the 1956 run-in while five lengths clear?

Her reaction to the owner of the winner was a shrug: 'Oh, that's racing!'

Devon Loch's jockey in 1956 later became a best-selling thriller writer. Who was he?

He rode in eight Grand Nationals and never won one, though he led over the last fence that day.

Which horse crossed the line first in 1956 after Devon Loch's collapse?

He missed the fastest-ever finishing time by four-fifths of a second.

Foinavon's 100/1 win in 1967 came after a mêlée at which fence, later named after him?

His owner had so little faith in him that he went to Worcester races that day instead.

Which riderless horse veered across the leaders in 1967 and caused the pile-up?

He had unseated his rider at the very first fence and ran loose for the rest of the race.

Who was the jockey who steered Foinavon wide of the 1967 pile-up to win?

Seventeen jockeys remounted, but none could catch him before the line.

How many times did Red Rum win the Grand National?

He won in 1973, 1974 and 1977 and finished second in the two years between — no other horse has won more than twice.

Which champion horse, carrying 23 lb more, was caught by Red Rum two strides from the post in 1973?

Red Rum's 9 minutes 1.9 seconds knocked 18.3 seconds off a record that had stood since 1935.

Red Rum was famously trained on the beach at which seaside town?

Galloping in sea-water was used to treat his pedal osteitis, a bone disorder his trainer had seen cured in lame carthorses the same way.

Where was Red Rum buried after his death in 1995?

His death led television news bulletins and made the next day's front pages.

Red Rum was bred at the Rossenarra stud in which Irish county?

He was bred to win one-mile races but ended up winning over four and a half miles.

How did Red Rum get his name?

His dam was Mared and his sire Quorum, and breeder Martyn McEnery simply spliced their endings.

Cancer survivor Bob Champion won the 1981 Grand National on which horse, itself recovered from leg problems?

They beat Spartan Missile, ridden by 54-year-old grandfather John Thorne, by four lengths.

Which actor played Bob Champion in the 1983 film Champions?

The film came out within two years of the win that made horse and jockey instant celebrities.

Which horse was first past the post in the void 1993 Grand National, 'the race that never was'?

He clocked the second-fastest time ever, but only seven horses finished after 30 of 39 jockeys missed the false-start signal.

Which commentator called the 1993 fiasco 'the greatest disaster in the history of the Grand National'?

He called home the winners of fifty Grand Nationals between 1947 and 1997.

Why was the 1997 Grand National postponed and run on the Monday?

Some 60,000 spectators were evacuated and locals took in the stranded, prompting the headline 'We'll fight them on the Becher's'.

Which New Zealand-bred horse won the Monday National of 1997?

Organisers offered 20,000 free tickets for the rescheduled race.

Which 100/1 outsider won by 12 lengths in 2009, giving Venetia Williams her first National?

He was the longest-priced winner in 42 years, and it was jockey Liam Treadwell's first ride in the race.

Which horse won the CGI 'virtual' Grand National run in place of the cancelled 2020 race?

A second virtual race pitting past winners in their prime was won by Red Rum, by less than a length from Manifesto.

Rachael Blackmore became the first female jockey to win the Grand National in 2021 on which horse?

That same spring she was leading jockey at Cheltenham, and in 2022 she became the first woman to win the Gold Cup.

Who was the first female jockey to ride in the Grand National, on 200/1 shot Barony Fort in 1977?

The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 had only just opened the race to women.

Who was the first woman to train a Grand National winner, in 1983?

She won again in 1995, and no other female trainer succeeded until 2009.

The only human death in Grand National history, Joe Wynne's in 1862, occurred at which fence?

The ditch on the take-off side was added afterwards to slow horses on approach; the fence was originally the Monument Jump.

Which fence is immediately followed by a sharp 90-degree left-hander?

Before the First World War loose horses sometimes carried straight on into the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.

Valentine's Brook is named after a horse reputed to have jumped it in 1840 in what unusual way?

It was previously known simply as the Second Brook.

The Grand National fences are topped with spruce brought from where?

Since 2012 most fence cores are flexible plastic, still dressed with at least 14 inches of spruce for horses to brush through.

Which horse set the fastest ever winning time, 8 minutes 47.8 seconds, in 1990?

That broke Red Rum's 1973 record, which had stood for seventeen years.

Which 19th-century jockey holds the record of five Grand National wins?

He won on Freetrader, Emblem, Emblematic and twice on The Colonel between 1856 and 1870.

How old was Bruce Hobbs, the youngest Grand National winner, when he won on Battleship in 1938?

Battleship, a son of Man o' War, is the only horse to have won both the Grand National and the American Grand National.

Peter Simple, the oldest horse ever to win the Grand National, was how old when he won in 1853?

Five different horses have won at the youngest possible age of five, the last being Lutteur III in 1909.

Count Karl Kinsky, who won on Zoedone in 1883, was the first winning rider from which country?

It was his first attempt at the race, and he was later inducted as a Grand National Legend.

Which broadcaster took over UK television rights to the Grand National in 2017?

The BBC showed it from 1960 to 2012 and Channel 4 from 2013 to 2016; an estimated 500 to 600 million people watch worldwide.

Which company became the sponsor of the Grand National and its festival in 2017?

Its appointment drew controversy because the Aintree chairwoman's husband, an MP, was a paid Randox consultant.

Which distiller's final year as sponsor, 1991, saw the race won by a horse bearing its name?

The winner was bred in New Zealand, and Seagram's subsidiary Martell took over the sponsorship the following year.

In which 1944 film does Elizabeth Taylor play a girl who dreams of riding her horse at Aintree?

Mickey Rooney co-starred and the film won two Oscars.

After the 2023 race, the maximum field was cut from 40 runners to how many?

The first fence was also moved 60 yards nearer the start to slow the early charge.

Which of these horses is one of only three greys ever to win the Grand National?

The others were The Lamb, who won twice in 1868 and 1871, and Nicolaus Silver in 1961.

Which horse won back-to-back Grand Nationals in 2018 and 2019, the first to do so since Red Rum?

He also won the Cheltenham cross-country chase three times for trainer Gordon Elliott.

Which trainer, 31 years after his first win, saddled Amberleigh House to victory in 2004?

It equalled the record of four National winners held by George Dockeray and Fred Rimell.

Manifesto holds the record for the most runs in the Grand National. How many times did he run?

He won twice along the way, and was voted one of the inaugural Grand National Legends in 2010.

Kirkland, the 1905 winner, remains the only Grand National winner trained in which country?

Rubstic became the first Scottish-trained winner in 1979, and Lucinda Russell has since added two more.

Ambush II, the 1900 winner, was owned by which future king?

Half a century later the Queen Mother's first runner, Monaveen, finished fifth in 1950.

Which 1994 winner was owned by the comedian Freddie Starr?

Richard Dunwoody rode him; celebrity owners have also included Gregory Peck and hairdresser Raymond Bessone.

Different Class, the favourite for the 1968 race, was owned by which Hollywood actor?

Alex Ferguson later part-owned What A Friend, who ran in 2011 and 2013.

Which horse became the first Scottish-trained Grand National winner, in 1979?

Trained by John Leadbetter in Roxburghshire, he was later joined by Lucinda Russell's One For Arthur (2017) and Corach Rambler (2023).

Which sponsor's 2014 deal saw the Grand National run for a record purse of £1 million?

The alcoholic ginger beer maker held a three-year deal before Randox Health took over the festival in 2017.