The Grand National 2018 (Apr. 14) - Tiger Roll & Gaudy Night

Racing Famous Races/Horses
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It’s coming soon! The FF Grand National is a few weeks later so I’ll write about the real one now, so we don’t miss it. The Grand National is one of the longest and toughest steeplechase races in the world; in Europe probably only comparable to Velká Pardubická (a steeplechase in Czech Republic). Both races are controversial, as deaths are higher than in other races. There is even a List of equine fatalities in the Grand National. Some within the horseracing community, 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. The Grand National inspired a movie titled National Velvet (1944), starring Elizabeth Taylor; it is the story of a 14-year-old horse-crazy girl, who wins a spirited gelding in a raffle and decides to train him for the race.

[align=center]The FF Grand National info:

Date
2022-06-13

Race
The Grand National (Gr. 1)

Surface
Steeplechase

Distance
24 furlongs

Age
3yo+

Purse
$500,000[/align]

Links:

Aintree Racecourse - official page

Grand National - Wikipedia

Aintree Races - Twitter

Grand National 2017: One For Arthur wins - youtube video

Fun fact: apparently there is also a Lamb National at Ascot Racecourse! Very pleasing to me as now I am also a yarn addict, planning to spin my first wool soon…

Any plans for the FF Grand National? I have a filly who seems to really like long distance, but I’m not sure if she will be competitive agains the boys. My stallion NCh. Al Mundhir ran in the 2018 Grand National and he finished 4th. The winner of that running, GCh. Keyboard is now retired and the 2nd, NCh. Hogsmeade is standing at stud too; he also earned the 2018 Steeplechase Horse Eclipse Award.

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A little RL Grand National trivia:-

In 1956, the Queen Mother had a runner, Devon Loch, who was being ridden by Dick Francis (who was a British Steeplechase Champion Jockey and went on to write more than 40 Fiction books, all based around horses and mainly horse racing). Devon Loch jumped the last fence well clear of the second horse and, to everyone’s horror, collapsed for no apparent reason a few yards from the post. According to reports, the Queen Mother, when asked about her disappointment at the outcome, replied that she was delighted that both horse and jockey were all right.

In 1967, the race was won by a 100/1 outsider, Foinavon, after a major pile up at the 23rd of the 30 fences. He was the only runner of the 20+ still in the race at that time that did not either fall or get brought down or refuse to jump the fence, being so far behind the others that he was able to avoid the melee. By the time other jockeys were able to catch and remount their horses (including one jockey who reportedly remounted the wrong horse), Foinavon was more than 30 lengths clear of the field and managed to hang on to win the race.

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You can’t have a Grand National thread without mentioning Red Rum, the only three time winner of the National in ‘73, ‘74 and 77. He also finished second in ‘75 and 76. He was bred to be a flat racer (his sire was a sprinter, sadly his dam was said to be a bit mad and was put down before Red Rum’s talent emerged). Famously trained on the beach at Southport, just north of Liverpool, he made lots of public appearances after retirement from racing at village fates, opening betting shops etc. He lived to the age of 30 and was buried by the winning post at Aintree.

Another one with an interesting story is the 1981 winner, Aldaniti. He came back from a very serious tendon injury to win the race whilst his jockey, Bob Champion, had successfully recovered from testicular cancer. Their story is the subject of the film ‘Champions’.

I studied my undergraduate degree in Liverpool and worked at the Grand National meeting for three years. As I get older, I worry more than I used too abou the horses’ safety but it is a thrilling spectacle and the atmosphere is incredible. I’ll be keeping my fingers crossed that the 40 odd runners come back safe and sound this year.

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Wow! Love the extra commentary Lewis & Emma! I would personally love to see this race one day. It’s been on my horse bucket list since I first watched National Velvet!

Unfortunately I do not have any racers that are interested enough in steeplechasing much less 24f  ::)

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Wow, so interesting! There are many similarities between this race and Velká pardubická (of which I will write later). Both races are nearly 7 km long, and both have around 30 obstacles; and one that is especially deadly - Becher’s Brook in the Grand National and Taxis Ditch in Velká Pardubická.
One difference is that I can’t seem to find a full replay of Grand National anywhere… but I had no problem finding the Czech race; for example, the 2017 running, but also earlier years (only with Czech commentary though). I wonder if this is because of accidents… but same things happen in the Czech race. Taxis is the fourth obstacle and almost always some riders fall, resulting in loose horses running along causing trouble, and other incidents. Nothing serious last year though, luckily.

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Hilda mentioned the Velka Pardubice. I remember one race in 1973 (probably before many other FF’ers were even born!!!) which was won by an English Amateur Jockey Chris Collins on his own horse Stephen’s Society. I vaguely remember that he was one of the first English horses to compete in the race and actually win it.

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This should be a full length video from 2012 [member=3420]Hilda with Clicker[/member] . A very close finish, the winner is another one who came back from a serious tendon injury. He’s now retired and I believe having quite a successful career in low level dressage.

m.youtube.com/watch?v=Tcqe_xhKNHg

Tou’ve got me going with the stories now. I hope I’m going to get the years right!

There were two false starts in the 1993 National, problems with the starting tape. They managed to stop the field after the first one but unfortunately, after it happened again some of the jockeys didn’t realise it was a false start and completed the whole race with Esha Ness “winning� the race (later declared void).

In 1997 the race was called off and the whole course evacuated after an IRA bomb scare. Fortunately it turned out to be a hoax. The race was run in the following Monday with free entry for race goers with the huge NZ bred Lord Gyllene winning the race.

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This is all extremely fascinating. Loving the commentary! I try to catch the live stream of the Grand National but don’t usually succeed (work/other obligations/usually just forget). In FF I may actually have two prospects, so we’ll see!

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Here is a link to the 1967 Grand National, won by Foinavon. It is in black and white, but is the entire race from start to finish:-

youtube.com/watch?v=KLN4wmfuDPM

Here is a link to the 1956 Race (Devon Loch). This is also in black and white and is only highlights, but shows the finish, including Devon Loch’s collapse - it looks like he tried to jump an imaginary fence:-

youtube.com/watch?v=62fPLtL8h7s

Here is a link to the 1973 race, the first of Red Rum’s 3 wins. This was amazing as an Australian horse, Crisp, led almost from start to finish and, with about 3 fences left in the race, he was almost a full fence ahead of Red Rum in second. Over the last fence, Crisp was about 20 lengths clear of Red Rum, who wore him down and passed him just before the line. The 3rd horse home was quite along way behind these two.

youtube.com/watch?v=NdNRXtRnHqk

Emma mentioned the 1981 Grand National, won by Bob Champion (who was coming back from cancer treatment) on Aldaniti (who was recovering from major leg problems). The movie, Champions, is based on these two. The second horse, Spartan Missile, was ridden by John Thorne, an amateur jockey (who also owned the horse), who was 54 years old at the time.

youtube.com/watch?v=7WOpI71jeJU

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Yay, this one got you guys interested!

I looked up who won previous FF Grand Nationals, after the 2018 which I already mentioned:

2019 - [color=blue]NCh. Gaudy Night - 7yo now and a multi-millionaire, but still not stud qualified, poor thing. 2019 Steeplechase Horse Eclipse Award. He also showed in the 2020 running. Track: Good, Time: 4:57.095, SF: 100.

2020 - [color=blue]Ch. First Film - now a retired gelding. 2020 Steeplechase Horse Eclipse Award. Track: Good, Time: 4:39.145, SF: 100. He only ran in three races that year.

2021 - [color=blue]Ch. Foolabuck - 6yo now and still an active racehorse, although unraced this year. Also ran only three races in his Grand National year. Track: Wet, Time: 4:18.655, SF: 100. Interesting, that this was a faster time than previous two, despite wet track.

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I’m really enjoying this thread!

A few more interesting facts. No female jockey has ridden the winner but three ladies have trained the winners (Jenny Pitman being the first with Corbiere in 1983 and again with Royal Athlete in 1995, Venetia Williams with Mon Mome in 2010 (I think) - he was a 100-1 shot - and Lucinda Russell last year with One For Arthur). I’m not sure if a mare has ever one the race, certainly not in recent years. There has at least been one stallion winner, the American trained Battleship, winner in 1938. Like Red Rum, he was bred for the flat and was sired by none other than Man O’War.

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I went looking and amazing 13 mares have won the Grand National, but none since Nickel Coin back in 1951. The most recent best-finish by a mare was Dubacilla in 1995, finishing fourth.

Per the Grand National homepage, here are a few facts I thought were really interesting:

  • In 1998, Earth Summit, owned by a six-strong partnership, became the first winner of the Grand National who was also successful in both the Scottish and Welsh Grand Nationals.

  • Only three greys have won the Grand National – The Lamb (1868 and 1871), Nicolaus Silver (1961) and Neptune Collonges (2012). Suny Bay finished second to Lord Gyllene in 1997 and filled the same spot behind Earth Summit in 1998. King Johns Castle was second in 2008.

International runners haven’t done well, but New Zealand breds won it in 1991 (Seagram) and 1997 (Lord Gyllene).

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To add on to Emma’s and Shelbie’s posts:-
No woman jockey has won although 16 of them have ridden in the race, a total of 26 times, completing the course 11 times.

Katie Walsh, who was 3rd on Seabass in 2012, is the only woman jockey to finish in the first 4, although 2 others have finished 5th.

Among women Jockeys, Nina Carberry has ridden in the most races (6) with Katie Walsh (5) close behind. Only two other women have ridden in the race more than once, Charlotte Brew (who was the first ever woman jockey to ride in the race) and Geraldine Rees, who both rode in it twice.

Venetia Williams rode in the race in 1988 but fell. She went on to train Mon Mome who won in 2009. Incidentally, Mon Mome is one of 5 winners that went off as 100/1 outsiders (Foinavon, who I talked about in an earlier post, was another 100/1 outsider to win).

There have actually been 4 women trainers who have trained winners of the race - Jenny Pitman (Corbiere in 1983 & Royal Athlete in 1995), Venetia Williams (Mon Mome in 2009), Sue Smith (Auroras Encore in 2013) & Lucinda Russell (One For Arthur in 2017).

13 Mares have won the Grand National, however, the last one was Nickel Coin in 1951.

Other notable facts:-
Red Rum is the only horse to win the race 3 times, although there have been 8 other horses who have won the race twice.

3 successful Jockeys also went on to Train winners, Tommy Carberry (1975 & 1999), Fulke Walwyn (1936 & 1964) & Fred Winter (1957 & 1962 as a Jockey, 1965 & 1966 as a Trainer). This figure does not include 8 winners who were ridden by their Trainer.

Tipperary Tim, who won in 1928, also at 100/1, was one of only 2 horses to finish the race. A melee occurred at the Canal Turn when the leader, Easter Hero, actually landed on top of the fence, causing most of the runners to either refuse or fall. Only 7 runners were able to continue after that and, by the second to last fence, that number was down to 3. One of them then suffered a slipped saddle and he was pulled up leaving only 2 runners, Tipperary Tim and American bred and owned Billy Barton. The 2 horses came to the last fence neck and neck, however, Billy Barton fell leaving Tipperary Tim alone in front. The other jockey remounted and completed the race but he was was so far behind that he had no chance of catching the winner.

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I’m seriously loving this thread! I wish I had some input but I know next to nothing about the Grand National! Besides what I learned from Mickey Rooney from National Velvet lolol

This is making me want a nice steeplechaser though!

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Here’s the list of entries for the RL version:

racingpost.com/racecards/32 … 569?authme

Hopefully it’ll load properly wth the horses in handicap order (it sometimes defaults to showing in best odds order). Currently 105 entries, with 40 at most able to run. I don’t follow RL jumps racing anywhere as much as I used to so I have no clue who might be in with a chance really. Unless things have changed dramatically, it’s unusual for the top weight to win (4.5 miles under 12 stone is hard going - if you’ve watched the video posted of Red Rum catching Crisp on the line you’ll see how exhausted the latter was). Age wise the winner is usually aged between 9-11, although there’s always exceptions.

Another interesting year was 2001 where ground conditions were awful. Typical British rain turned the course into a bog, resulting in only 4 finishers. Red Marauder (1st) and Smarty (2nd) were the only two to go clear - the third and fourth horses fell/unseated their riders but were remounted and finished in their own time. The only good thing about the state of the ground was providing a soft landing for the fallen horses - none had anything worse than some minor cuts.

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It’s tomorrow!

grand-national-2018.co.uk/the-horses

I maybe like Vieux Lion Rouge (there is also a nice interview about him), for two reasons: has a nice name and looks pretty :stuck_out_tongue: and also I Just Know for the same reasons.

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I haven’t had much time to look at the runners this year but I’ll be watching with interest.

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I couldn’t see Vieux Lion Rouge anywhere during the race. I Just Know was the early leader, but lost the rider. Seems like he ran along for the most part of the race. Tiger Roll, one of the favourites, won by a nose. One of the loose horses fell after a jump, tried to run but stopped. Seems like he was destroyed there, because horses were running around that place (and fence) on the second circuit.

The photo finish:

1200×675

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The horse was Saint Arr (I think I’ve spelt that right). Just been reported that he’s been taken to the racecourse stables for assessment so semi-positive news. All other horses and jockeys reported to be ok.

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Tom George, trainer of Saint Are (correct spelling this time), has done well overnight and will be going back to the trainer’s stables in Gloucestershire today. Hopefully if he’s well enough to travel, that’s a good sign.