The Grand National

The Grand National is a famous sporting event held annually at the Aintree racecourse in Liverpool, England. It was first held over 150 years ago, as is a handicap steeplechase run over 4 miles and 514 yards. The race itself consists of 30 fences over two laps of the course (the course has 16 fences, 14 of which are jumped twice). Some of the fences, such as Becher's Brook and The Chair are notorious for their level of difficulty. The founder of the Grand National was William Lynn, proprietor of the Waterloo Hotel. He leased land in Aintree and it was the beginning of what was known at the time as the Grand Liverpool Steeplechase. The Grand National is the most valuable jump race in Europe, with total prize money of over £1 milliom in 2019, and the race holds a great deal of prominence in both British sport and culture.

Previous winners

The 2018 Grand National was won by Tiger Roll, with jockey Davy Russell on board. Tiger Roll was trained by Gordon Elliott and won the National at odds of just 10-1 on account of how much support it had gained pre-race. He's also currently joint favourite to win the 2019 Aintree National. A true stand out winner from yesteryear has to be Red Rum. This legendary horse is widely viewed as one of the greatest horse races of all time and has won the Grand National not once, not twice, but three times in 1973, 1974 and 1977, with near misses, when he placed second in both 1975 and 1976. It's doubtful that such a stellar Grand National record will ever be equaled.

Foinavan and Tipperary Tim are also other noteworthy famous winners of the Grand National, with the former winning in 1967 and the latter 1928. They both won at odds of 100/1 (and in unusual circumstances), which is a feat only seen 5 times over the entire history of the race. Other 100-1 winners are Gregalach in 1929, Caughoo in 1947 and most recently Mon Mome in 2009. During Foinavan's win he took advantage of numerous falls by other horses. Tipperary Tim’s win was partly due to awful weather. He was the only horse not to fall of the 42 starters, which no doubt would've made for a rather unique spectacle on course!

Prize Money

As highlighted the total prize money for the upcming 2019 Grand National is over £1 million. This makes it one of the world’s richest horse races when it comes to prize money. A few races do top it though, with the Breeders Cup Classic offering a very healthly £4.4 million in prize money with the same amount offered in the PriPrix de L'Arc de Triomphe. Overshadowing all is the Dubai World Cup prize money of almost £8 million. Over time, the Grand National has had numerous sponsors. The current sponsor is Randox Health. Previously, Seagram Distillers, a Canadian firm sponsored the race between 1984 and 1991, Martell between 1992 and 2004, John Smith’s between 20015 and 2013, and Crabbie’s from 2014 to 2016. Sponsoring a race like the Nation offers huge brand recognition.