Red Rum, Aintree and the Grand National
By Tom Gillespie
I AM not into horse racing despite the fact that the sport of kings seems to play on a loop on a bank of televisions in my locals.
Once a year I indulge in a flutter, usually without any luck, and that is for the Grand National, which has been staged at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool since February 26, 1839.
Once, while on a familiarisation trip with Ireland West Airport, we visited Merseyside and part of the tour was to Aintree where we saw the stable that housed the champion thoroughbred steeplechaser, Red Rum, his statue and his grave at the winning post of the racecourse, which is still a destination for his fans.
The epitaph reads: ‘Respect this place / this hallowed ground / a legend here / his rest has found / his feet would fly / our spirits soar / he earned our love for evermore’.
Red Rum died on October 18, 1995, aged 30. His death was one of the lead items in television news bulletins and also made the front pages of national newspapers the next day.
Red Rum achieved an unmatched historic treble when he won the Grand National in 1973, ’74 and '77, and also came second in the two intervening years, ’75 and ’76.
The Grand National, which takes place on Saturday, is a notoriously difficult race that has been described as ‘the ultimate test of a horse’s courage'.
Red Rum was also renowned for his jumping ability, having not fallen in 100 races.
The 1977 race in which Red Rum secured his comeback victory from 30 lengths behind is often considered one of the greatest Grand Nationals in history. In a 2002 UK poll, Red Rum's historic third triumph in the Grand National was voted the 24th greatest sporting moment of all time.
The Grand National consists of two laps of 16 fences, the first 14 of which are jumped twice. Horses completing the race cover a distance of four miles and 514 yards - the longest of any National Hunt race in Britain.
As part of a review of safety following the 2012 running of the event, from 2013 to 2015 the start was moved 90 yards forward, away from the crowds and grandstands, reducing the race distance by 110 yards from the historical four miles and 856 yards.
The course has one of the longest run-ins from the final fence of any steeplechase at 494 yards.
The Grand National was designed as a cross-country steeplechase when it was first officially run in 1839. The runners started at a lane on the edge of the racecourse and raced away from the course out over open countryside towards the Leeds and Liverpool Canal.
The gates, hedges and ditches that they met along the route were flagged to provide them with the obstacles to be jumped along the way, with posts and rails erected at the two points where the runners jumped a brook.
The runners returned towards the racecourse by running along the edge of the canal before re-entering the course at the opposite end. The runners then ran the length of the racecourse before embarking on a second circuit and finishing in front of the stands.
The majority of the race therefore took place not on the actual Aintree Racecourse but instead in the adjoining countryside. That countryside was incorporated into the modern course but commentators still often refer to it as ‘the country’.
While leading the initial Grand National, Captain Martin Becher was dismounted at the sixth fence - later named Becher’s Brook - into a ditch, later commenting: “Water tastes disgusting without the benefit of whisky.”
Despite my total disinterest in horse racing, we all know the name of the most famous fence in the Grand National.
Fence six and 22, Becher’s Brook is five feet, with the landing side six inches to 10 inches lower than the takeoff side.
The drop at this fence often catches runners totally by surprise. Becher's has always been a popular vantage point as it can present one of the most spectacular displays of jumping when the horse and rider meet the fence right.
Jockeys must sit back in their saddles and use their body weight as ballast to counter the steep drop.
It takes its name from Captain Martin Becher who fell there in the first Grand National and took shelter in the small brook running along the landing side of the fence while the remainder of the field thundered over.
The Grand National was founded by William Lynn, a syndicate head and proprietor of the Waterloo Hotel, on land he leased in Aintree from William Molyneux, 2nd Earl of Sefton.
Lynn set out a course, built a grandstand, and Lord Sefton laid the foundation stone on February 7, 1829.
There is much debate regarding the first official Grand National - most leading published historians, including John Pinfold, now prefer the idea that the first running was in 1836 and was won by The Duke.
This same horse won again in 1837, while Sir William was the winner in 1838. These races have long been disregarded because of the belief that they took place at Maghull and not Aintree.
However, some historians have unearthed evidence in recent years that suggest those three races were run over the same course at Aintree and were regarded as having been Grand Nationals up until the mid-1860s.
I know nothing about the odds and I rely, sadly, I have to admit, on picking a ‘winner’ by the attractiveness of the horse’s name.
Once in Kilbeggan Racecourse with my colleagues in Celtic Media I had a nice winner in the last race.
The previous day I had been in the bog and the name that jumped out to me was The Banks (as in the banks of turf).
But my advice to you for this Grand National is to keep your money in your pocket and enjoy the race today.