Previous Grand National entries and Non runners et al

[moehat]

I can gaze at old newspapers showing old races in in awe; our racing club had a paper with Foinavons race in it when the author of the book about him was a guest a couple of years back. Ditto old racecards.

[stevecaution]

Just had a look at that 1979 National racecard. Alverton was absolutely thrown in, wasn’t he? What had he been doing before winning the Gold Cup?

Also note Royal Frolic at the head of the weights. Have there been any Nationals since with two Gold Cup winners running? Maybe some time in the 1990s.

Alverton takes me back to 5th Year High School, Higher Chemistry class and a bet I struck for a Mars Bar, with a class mate that Alverton wouldn’t get round. The boy was sure Alverton was going to walk it and I only really took the bet on to shut him up for five minutes.

It was a bitter-sweet day with Alverton falling fatally, yet I had backed Rubstic each-way and was a Mars Bar to the good.

Such is the emotional roller coaster of The Grand National.

Thanks for the good crack. Time for me to move on. Be lucky.

[Old Applejack]

Hello fellow fans of National trivia and ephemera, it’s been a while.

Something came to mind the other day which may give you something to reminisce on.

As a 9 year old back in 1985, I received the game Grand National for the Spectrum 48K. Not a breakthrough product, but gaming gold for me. Took a little while for me to grasp the concept that ‘going faster’ might help me actually clear the first fence, but once this was mastered, I had lots of happy hours with it.

Anyway, I digress. There were forty runners available to you. The same forty in every race, every time. And usually nine or ten of those were non-runners. I’m guessing that the programmers looked at the racing pages in early 85 and picked some likely National runners. What we got were some obvious ones, some spelling errors and some that…well, I just don’t get.

Full list below, but the ones that are leaving me stumped are:

Whistling Genatap? No idea what this might be?
Luck Daughter?
I think Matty Buskins is genuine but not sure if ever near a National.
Howarth Halloway was surely Howarth Highway?
Grand Ogan?
Road Mead – possibly Roadhead – ran in the Foxhunters.
No idea with First Glance and Derby Creek, and they’re just having a laugh with number 40.

No. NAME 1 Greasepaint
2 Artimorval
3 Doorstop
4 Lucky Vane
5 Whistling Genatap
6 Hallo Dandy
7 Corbiere
8 West Tip
9 Drumlargen
10 Eyecatcher
11 Fortina’s Express
12 Duke of Milan
13 Broomy Bank
14 Ballinacurra Lad
15 Pirate Son
16 Glen Fox
17 Kumbi
18 Fox Bury
19 Luck Daughter
20 Matty Buskins
21 Fethard Friend
22 Rubstic
23 Rockin’ Berry
24 Howarth Halloway
25 Classified
26 Drum Largan
27 Grand 0gan
28 Last Suspect
29 Talon
30 Good Crack
31 Nicky Tam
32 Tacroy
33 Cockle Strand
34 Why Forget
35 Max Friendly
36 Succeeded
37 Road Mead
38 First Glance
39 Derby Creek
40 Terry’s Nag

[Venture to Cognac]

lol OA, I remember playing that loads, it was a wee bit sh1t, wasn’t it

Matty Buskins was fairly decent, and think it’s safe to assume you’re right about Howarth, and Roadhead as well.

There was a First Glance kicking about, and I’m sure Derby Creek was supposed to be Darby Creek.

I’m sure I rememeber a Luck Daughter as well, but that might be my mind playing tricks on me, dear god it’s now a long time ago, and I played the game that much I might be convincing myself I rememeber it.

As for Grand Ogan, and Whistling Genatap, I always wondered about them as well.

I suppose I could do an archive search, but I’m sad enough, and might not bother

[honeysdad]

Whistling Genatap was Whistling Senator, i think trained by Tony Redmond in Ireland was one of those horses entered several times but never ran.
Grand Ogan was simply Grandogan was the original bottom weight i seem to remember ,pretty sure he was trained by Derek Ancil .
Some of you might remember that First Glance was trained by a guy called Nick Lee-Judson sure he trained at one of the universities or colleges as part of one of the courses.
Rockin Berry was the only horse eliminated due to safety numbers .

Thats enough for now LOL ….oh and i had the game as well

[Author]

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