All You Need To Know About The Grand National (Final Part)

For Parts One & Two please scroll down the blog...

Records

Leading horse:

Red Rum – 3 wins

Oldest winning horse: Peter Simple ; aged 15

Largest field: 66 runners  meaning men who were not paid to compete, and while this was written into the conditions of the early races many of the riders who weighed out for the 1839 race were professionals for hire. Throughout the Victorian era the line between the amateur and professional sportsman existed only in terms of the rider's status, and the engagement of an amateur to ride in the race was rarely considered a handicap to a contender's chances of winning. Many gentleman riders won the race prior to the First World War.

Although the number of amateurs remained high between the wars their ability to match their professional counterparts gradually receded. After the Second World War it became rare for any more than four or five amateurs to take part in any given year. The last amateur rider to win the race is Marcus Armytage, who  set the still-standing course record of 8:47.8, when winning on Mr Frisk in 1990. By the 21st century however, openings for amateur riders had become very rare with some years passing with no amateur riders at all taking part. Those that do in the modern era are most usually talented young riders who are often close to turning professional. In the past, such amateur riders would have been joined by army officers, such as David Campbell who won in 1896, and sporting aristocrats, farmers or local huntsmen and point to point riders, who usually opted to ride their own mounts. But all these genres of rider have faded out in the last quarter of a century with no riders of military rank or aristocratic title having taken a mount since 1982.

The Sex Discrimination Act 1975 made it possible for female jockeys to enter the race. The first female jockey to enter the race was Charlotte Brew on the 200/1 outsider Barony Fort in the 1977 race. The first female jockey to complete the race was Geraldine Rees on Cheers in 1982. The 21st century has not seen a significant increase in female riders but it has seen them gain rides on mounts considered to have a genuine chance of winning. In 2005, Carrie Ford finished fifth on the 8/1 second-favourite Forest Gunner. In 2012, Katie Walsh achieved the best result yet for a female jockey, finishing third on the 8/1 joint-favourite Seabass. In 2015, Nina Carberry became the first female jockey to take a fifth ride in the Grand National, her best placing being seventh in 2010.

Professionals now hold dominance in the Grand National and better training, dietary habits and protective clothing has ensured that riders' careers last much longer and offer more opportunities to ride in the race. Of the 34 riders who have enjoyed 13 or more rides in the race, 19 had their first ride in the 20th century and 11 had careers that continued into or started in the 21st century. Despite that, the record of 19 rides in the race was set by Tom Olliver back in 1859 and was not equalled until 2014 by A. P. McCoy. Longevity is no guarantee of success, however, as 13 of the 34 never tasted the glory of winning the race. McCoy is the only rider to successfully remove himself from the list after winning at the 15th attempt in 2010. Richard Johnson set a record of 19 failed attempts to win the race from 1997-2015, having finished second twice, but is still competing. The other 12 riders who never won or have not as yet won, having had more than 12 rides in the race are:

David Casey : finished third once in 15 attempts

Jeff King : finished third once in 15 attempts

Graham Bradley : finished second once in 14 attempts

Bill Parvin : finished second once in 14 attempts

Tom Scudamore : never in first three in 14 attempts

Robert Thornton : never in first three in 14 attempts

Chris Grant : finished second thrice in 13 attempts

Stan Mellor : finished second once in 13 attempts

George Waddington : finished second once in 13 attempts

Walter White : finished second once in 13 attempts

David Nicholson : never in first three in 13 attempts

Andrew Thornton : never in first three in 13 attempts

Peter Scudamore technically lined up for thirteen Grand Nationals without winning but the last of those was the void race of 1993, which meant that he officially competed in twelve Nationals.

Many other well-known jockeys have failed to win the Grand National. These include champion jockeys such as Terry Biddlecombe, John Francome, Josh Gifford, Stan Mellor, Jonjo O'Neill  and Fred Rimell. Three jockeys who led over the last fence in the National but lost the race on the run-in ended up as television commentators: Lord Oaksey, Norman Williamson, and Richard Pitman . Pitman's son Mark also led over the last fence, only to be pipped at the post when riding Garrison Savannah in 1991.

Horse welfare 

For every 1,000 horses taking part in modern steeplechase races, the number of fatalities is just over four, according to the British Horseracing Authority; research by Anglia Ruskin University states the rate is six per 1,000 horses. However, deaths in the Grand National are higher than the average steeplechase, with six deaths per 439 horses between 2000 and 2010. Due to the high number of injuries and deaths suffered by participating horses, animal rights groups have campaigned to have the race modified or abolished.

Over the years, Aintree officials have worked in conjunction with animal welfare organisations to reduce the severity of some fences and to improve veterinary facilities. In 2008, a new veterinary surgery was constructed in the stable yard which has two large treatment boxes, an X-ray unit, video endoscopy, equine solarium, and sandpit facilities. Further changes in set-up and procedure allow vets to treat horses more rapidly and in better surroundings. Those requiring more specialist care can be transported by specialist horse ambulances, under police escort, to the nearby Philip Leverhulme Equine Hospital at the University of Liverpool at Leahurst. A mobile on-course X-ray machine assists in the prompt diagnosis of leg injuries when horses are pulled up, and oxygen and water are available by the final fence and finishing post. Five vets remain mobile on the course during the running of the race and can initiate treatment of injured fallers at the fence. Additional vets are stationed at the pull-up area, finishing post, and in the surgery. have argued that the lowering of fences and the narrowing of ditches, primarily designed to increase horse safety, has had the adverse effect by encouraging the runners to race faster. During the 1970s and 1980s, the Grand National saw a total of 12 horses die ; in the next 20-year period from 1990 to 2010, when modifications to the course were most significant, there were 17 equine fatalities. The 2011 and 2012 races each yielded two deaths, including one each at Becher's Brook. In 2013, when further changes were made to introduce a more flexible fence structure, there were no fatalities in the race itself although two horses died in run-up races over the same course. There have been no equine fatalities in the main Grand National race since 2012, however the animal welfare charity League Against Cruel Sports counts the number of horse deaths over the three-day meeting from the year 2000 to 2013 at 40. The winners were announced on the day of the 2010 Grand National and inscribed on commemorative plaques at Aintree. 

They were:

Ginger McCain and his record three-time winning horse Red Rum;

John Buckingham and Foinavon, the unlikely winners in 1967;

Manifesto, who holds the record for most runs in the race, eight including two victories;

Jenny Pitman, the first woman to train the winner of the race in 1983; and

Sir Peter O'Sullevan, the commentator who called home the winners of fifty Grand Nationals on radio and television from 1947 to 1997.

A panel of experts also selected three additional legends:

Arthur Ferrie, who worked as a groundsman during the 1970s and 1980s;

Edie Roche, a Melling Road resident, who opened her home to jockeys, spectators and members of the media when the course was evacuated following a bomb threat in 1997;

Ian Stewart, a fan who had travelled from Coventry every year to watch the race and was attending his fiftieth National in 2010;

Police Constable Ken Lawson, who was celebrating thirty-one years of service in the mounted section of Merseyside Police and was set to escort his third National winner in 2010; and

Tony Roberts, whose first visit to the National had been in 1948 and who had steadily spread the word to family and friends about the race, regularly bringing a party of up to thirty people to the course.

A public vote announced at the 2012 Grand National saw five more additions to the Legends hall:

Fred Winter, who rode two National winners and trained two more;

Carl Llewellyn, jockey who won two Nationals including on Party Politics in 1992, and Earth Summit in 1998, the latter being the only horse to have won the Grand National and the Scottish and Welsh Nationals;

Fred Rimell, the trainer of four different National winning horses, including Nicolaus Silver, one of only three greys to have ever won the race;

Michael Scudamore, rider in sixteen consecutive Grand Nationals from 1951, finishing first in 1959 and also achieving a second and a third place;

Tommy Carberry, the jockey who stopped Red Rum's attempt at a third success in 1975 by winning on L'Escargot, also finished second and third before going on to train the winner in 1999.

The selection panel also inducted three more competitors:

Tommy Pickernell, who rode in seventeen Grand Nationals in the 19th century and won three. He allegedly turned down a substantial bribe during the 1860 race from the second-placed jockey and instead rode on to win;

Battleship, the only horse to have won both the Grand National and the American Grand National, and his jockey Bruce Hobbs, who remains the youngest jockey to win the Aintree race;

George Dockeray, who alongside Ginger McCain and Fred Rimell trained four National winners, starting with Lottery in the first official Grand National in 1839.

Favourites  

In the 69 races of the post-war era, favourite or joint favourites have only won the race nine times, and have failed to finish in 37 races.

Mares

Since its inception, 13 mares have won the race:

Female jockeys  

Since 1977, women have ridden in 19 Grand Nationals. Geraldine Rees became the first to complete the course in 1982. In 2012 Katie Walsh became the first female jockey to earn a placed finish in the race, finishing third.

Famous owners  

The 1900 winner Ambush II was owned by HRH Prince of Wales, later to become King Edward VII. In 1950 Queen Elizabeth, the Queen Mother had her first runner in the race in Monaveen, who finished fifth. Six years later she would witness her Devon Loch collapse on the run-in, just yards from a certain victory.

The favourite for the 1968 race, Different Class, was owned by actor Gregory Peck.

The 1963 winner Ayala and the 1976 winner Rag Trade were both part-owned by celebrity hairdresser Raymond Bessone.

1994 winner Miinnehoma was owned by comedian Freddie Starr.

What A Friend ran in 2011 and 2013 when part-owned by Alex Ferguson, the former manager of Manchester United.

Tipster Street.