The world-famous Grand National is held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, England. It is a handicap steeplechase over 4 miles 3½ furlongs with horses jumping 30 fences during two circuits. The Grand National is currently sponsored by Randox Health and is the most valuable jump race in Europe, with a prize fund of £1 million.
The diminutive Tiger Roll won both the 2018 and the 2019 races, but the Coronavirus pandemic put paid to the 2020 running of the race, and Tiger Roll’s bid to follow in Red Rum’s footsteps by claiming a third victory against the 40-strong field. He is currently being prepped for another go at winning the 2021 renewal, which is scheduled to take place on 10 April.
The fences in the race differ from the typical steeplechase fences used in Britain, as the cores are topped with at least 14 inches of spruce. In 2013 a number of changes were made to the race in response to the deaths of four horses in the previous two meetings. These included changing the core of the fences from traditional wooden stakes to birch and plastic cores in an attempt to make the fences more ‘horse friendly’ and moving the start. There has been one equine fatality since the changes, when a horse was brought down by a fellow runner during the 2019 race.
The decision means Red Rum retains his record as the only horse to win three Grand Nationals and Tiger Roll will not become the first horse to win three consecutive runnings of the race
Trainer Gordon Elliott will not be allowed to race horses in Britain while Irish authorities investigate a photo of him sitting on a dead horse
“Horse welfare and the care and attention to detail involved is absolutely at the core of everything we do here and both myself and all of my team pride ourselves on those standards”
Find out this year’s initial entry of Grand National runners as Tiger Roll bids for his third victory
The two-time National champion seemed to be enjoying his day out
“The most important thing is for him to go into a home where he’s going to be given something active to do because it can be very hard for these horses – he’s not ready yet just to spend his time in a field”
Potters Corner was the winner of the race that never was, with Red Rum securing yet another triumph with victory in the race of champions
H&H takes a look back and some memorable Aintree heros
A number of major UK bookmakers have pledged to donate profits from the race to NHS Charities Together
Get involved in this unique Aintree style award from your own living room
’In these difficult times we want the public to simply enjoy the race that sadly never was and think about what might have been’
Artist Paul Curtis said it was a ‘privilege to paint such an iconic horse’
‘Very sadly these are exceptional times and this is the responsible thing to do’
The weights for this year’s Grand National have been revealed
Sulekha Varma takes on the role as Andrew Tulloch, who has been at the helm for 24 years, moves on to a new position in the equestrian world
The 2017 Grand National runner-up heads to Royal Windsor after a standing champion at his affiliated showing debut last week
‘The images are generally years old and are specifically designed to shock people who don’t know anything about racing’
