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My introduction to racing and the reason it has become a lifelong interest for me came via the Grand National and I’d lay odds that the same is true for a significant number of TRF members.
I vaguely remember the 1971 race and recall the 1972 running but it was the 1973 renewal and Red Rum’s victory over Crisp that ensured I was hooked.
I don’t bet on the race every year but, regardless of my financial interest, my stomach always has butterflies as the runners jostle at the start. In the days before video I would then wait impatiently all night until, usually after the Eurovision Song Contest which always seemed to be on the same evening, they’d show a re-run of the race late on Saturday night.
Whatever you think of the race the sport of throughbred racing has no greater advert and, no matter what happens tomorrow, it’s likely that racing will have a new band of followers by the time the winner crosses the line.
Any national stories/memories to share anyone?
The race that started it all for me. I can still remember sitting in my Grandmothers house in 1977 as a 7 year old drinking the overly sweet tea she used to make and eating digestive biscuits and hearing the name Red Rum mentioned again and again. The greenness of the birch, the jockeys yellow hat and the size of Beechers just fascinated me. I can still remember that buzz of excitement and anticipation in her front room before the race.
A truly great sporting occasion.
I disagree, cormac. Not the ideal advert for the sport at all. It gives the impression that racing is not susceptible to logical analysis. It also gives ammunition to those who think racing’s cruel.
The jewel in the crown? Hardly.
Very popular as a spectacle maybe, but there has to be a good reason why they don’t bother trying to copy it anywhere else in the world.I’m am going to sound ancient here – for me it was the 1961 National and the last grey winner Nicolaus Silver – I have watched every National since, either on TV or on course.
It is the sheer spectacle of the race that grabbed my attention – plus a "white" horse winning, then again in those days all the horses were various shades of grey as were the jockeys "colours" – or so I thought
Every year I watch it, I get more nervous than for any other race, regardless of betting. It’s a race that is more likely to contain the most hard luck stories, heroes, etc. I don’t care what anyone says, luck plays a part in this race big time, particularly in the early stages, BUT a clever jockey on top of a reliable jumper who will stay should win (obviously!). Every bloody year (I don’t back the winner, except Party politics
) but always feel robbed as so many horses PU or get brought down. I like watching the re run with the spotlight on the winner along with slow mos of horses that were so unlucky. ie Clan Royal being carried out. Anyway, Wine kicks in and butterflies flutter. God only knows how the owners, trainers and jock feel.
Also, do people have huge punts on this race? Can anyone give any examples. It seems you can certainly narrow the field down but talk about risk Too many poor horses to interfere with the good ones IMOThis is the first race I remember watching, and the first year I can clearly remember is Grittar, when I was five years old.
I remember the following year in 1983, my Dad gave me the pull out from the Daily Mirror and told me to pick a winner. I promptly circled 38 of the 40 runners saying I’d have those. One of the two I didn’t circle was Corbiere. I guess my ability at picking winners stemmed from there
I have always watched the National, I have only missed a couple of years – I missed Numbersixvalverde’s win as my OH was visiting from Scotland (we were pretty mega long distance then and I had other things on my mind than racing!), and Papillon’s race – I can’t remember what I was doing instead that day, I think I was at a football match…
I was at a pub quiz recently and usually at the half time mark, teams get a picture round to complete. This week, the quiz masters handed out a sheet of photos of horses – not always racing, some just head shots in the field etc. The picture round was, apparently, "name these Grand National winners". After five minutes or so, and a lot of moaning and groaning, the quiz masters said that the picture round was a joke, and handed out the "real" picture round (name these female pop stars
) Trouble is, by then I had already got 8 of the 12 horses and was rather annoyed!I love the National, but I find it harder and harder to watch these days, and I think I will be watching with some trepidation tomorrow after the Topham carnage today.
I haven’t backed the winner for 11 years now, though, so I’d stay well away from Bewley’s Berry everyone.
I’ve a dim recollection of seeing a series of photographs of Devon Loch’s "ghost jump" (or whatever it was) in the Sunday Express in 1956. That would be my earliest memory.
Funnily enough, I don’t remember the first televised National in 1960, although I would have seen it. Cliff Michelmore hosted the programme.
Zorro has a point though, you could argue that the Melbourne Cup is the sport’s nearest thing to a "jewel in the crown".
Although Crisp’s mighty effort has a place on my list of cherished racing memories, I must admit to only quite liking the National and don’t anticipate it with anything like the relish I do conventional Graded Chases. It’s good fun and a novel spectacle but has never swung the emotions to the extent some races can.
Nevertheless I’ll be watching again tomorrow, as I have every year since Anglo won in 1966, save for 1980 when I was boating on the Nile
Zorro makes a fair point and I’d suggest the Cheltenham Gold Cup and Derby are rather sounder choices for the plaudit of "racing has no greater advert"
For the purists or ‘Flat race snobs’ I don’t think they’d agree. However, I’d have to agree – it’s the one race in the year when people have a punt, take an interest in the Sport, have an office sweep. Have tried a sweep for the Derby and nobody wants to know.
So I’d say it is.Mum doing the ITV 7 was what brought me into racing, but The Grand National was the only one where we’d stop playing football in the streets and go indoors to huddle around the box.
Trouble is Red Rum always used to win it
Winners I can remember having were :-
Corbiere, West Tip, Mr Frisk, Minnehoma and Earth Summit but i’ve also had a fair few places including McKelvey last year.
I’ve only been to one National which was won by Seagram, bizaarely in The ‘Seagram’ Grand National if I remember.
The only time I did the works sweep was when Esha Ness won it and I had to hand back all the cash
My wife and I should have won on Lord Gyllene. We had met only a few months before and she was from Uttoxeter (Lord Gyllenes owner Stan Clarke owned the racecourse) and the horse was trained in Shropshire (where I lived). Not only that, a chap from work urged us all to back this horse even before Christmas and nobody took a blind bit of notice. He truly was the horse that got away in more ways than one.
Fantastic occasion. Not a race for purists but as long as the horses come back sound there’s no better single annual sporting event IMO.
Good luck all.
Reading National Velvet when I was a child; watching the race with my dad on the telly, backing Team Spirit, the horses, the characters, the tears, the joy…the sense of elation when a horse like Aldaniti or Red Rum wins it…taking my daughter to Aintree and actually being there…the absolute respect for these horses and jockeys that are so brave, and wanting so much for them all to come home safe.
I disagree, cormac. Not the ideal advert for the sport at all. It gives the impression that racing is not susceptible to logical analysis. It also gives ammunition to those who think racing’s cruel.
The jewel in the crown? Hardly.
Very popular as a spectacle maybe, but there has to be a good reason why they don’t bother trying to copy it anywhere else in the world.Is this the same chap who believes there should be no whip rules? "Gives ammunition to those who think racing’s cruel". What a hypocrite
What is the good reason no one tries to copy it?
Of course it’s racings jewel in the crown and even the BBC’s.Well I’m gearing up for a long night here in Melbourne, and I’m not going to enter into the Melbourne Cup argument – the Grand National for me is the greatest race on the planet bar none. It’s an amazing spectacle and the very reason I came to England for my first overseas trip at the ripe old age of 24.
My first memory is of waking up in the middle of the night when I was 5 at a friend of my parents house and seeing the last lap of Aldaniti’s National. Not a bad first memory of the race. Jumps races in Australia have been limited to 14 runners for decades so as a youngster watching something so different fuelled a completely irrational desire to go see this magical event.
Sadly, Australia stopeed showing it on the telly after 1987, as the tote couldn’t cope with more than 24 horses and no one could bet on it. Sad but true!
So in 2000 I set out for Liverpool and went to all three days and happily backed Papillon and Mely Moss (and a few others) in what was a truly magical moment in my life…..
I’ve subsequently lived in London for 5 years and am now back in Melbourne, campaigning Sky Channel to extract the digit and put it on the box. Hopefully tonight it will be aired, but I have my reservations… the TV guide illustrates the ludicracy of the networks here. They’re showing 5 races from Lingfield and nothing about the GN.
For what it’s worth I reckon Bewleys Berry and Hedgehunter will show that Aintree form is worth two in the bush.
Good luck all, and may they all come back safe and sound. Unlike me in the morning – as it’s 2.15am when it starts here and I’m already having an ale.
Shane
The National is my only ‘must bet’ race of the year because I do think these days it is susceptible to analysis and you can back horses with good chances at huge prices.
The National is a showcase of the qualities of racehorses that make racing so compelling. There are the bold jumping front runners; the ones as tough as nails who battle all the way from the elbow; the horses lumping great weights around the course with enormous courage; the ‘rogues’ who come alive when presented with the Aintree fences; and there are always one or two with a fairytale story (Aldiniti, Red Rum etc) who bring a lump to your throat every time you see a rerun of their races.
I’m conscious of the slight hypocrisy of my admiration for those horses running in the National, though because I know I could never allow one of my own horses to risk its life in that way
I can see where Zorro is coming from, however for the general public the Grand National is THE horse race of the year, whether we as racing purists agree or not.
The National used to be a quirky race, however in recent years the quality has improved and it is now a truly competitive race. I would contend this years race is the best ever in terms of across the board class.
I can vaguely remember Nationals from the late 70s, although my clearest memory of Red Rum isn’t of him winning, it’s of him being pulled out on the eve of the ’78 race and subsequently being retired.
The first one I can remember watching avidly was the ’81 National. My non-racing mum and I watched it together – I desperately wanted Spartan Missile to win, while she had Aldaniti in her office sweep. The only time I’ve made it to Aintree in person was in ’88 when Little Polveir won.
I rarely bet in any race bar the National, and then I become an e/w mug punter picking out two or three, so my record is understandably mixed. The first winner I ever backed was West Tip, then Party Politics six years later. I then had a barren run with only a couple of places (Suny Bay stands out) but no winners until hitting the mark again with Monty’s Pass in 2003. Thanks to my slight Ruby fetish, I backed Hedgehunter in 2005 and have been backing him ever since, including this year (among others) for pure sentimental value.
Tuffers’ post sums up for me why the National will always be a special race. Good luck to everyone’s selections this afternoon, and let’s hope they all come back safe and sound.
It gives the impression that racing is not susceptible to logical analysis.
Only in the sense that it draws in more of the pick-a-nice-name type of punter than pretty much any other race – the pages and airtime accorded to trend analysis and the like still counter that adequately, as far as I’m concerned.
It also gives ammunition to those who think racing’s cruel.
Where there’s a will, there’s a way. Animal Aid’s rounding on Sedgefield earlier in the week suggests that even if Aintree had never existed, anyone so minded to decry racing as cruel would find some race or course to hold up as a – real or imagined – worst case example.
Very popular as a spectacle maybe, but there has to be a good reason why they don’t bother trying to copy it anywhere else in the world.
That’s a largely unwinnable argument, surely? With global jumps racing concentrated, what, maybe 95% in three European countries (maybe four, if we include the Czech Republic), I wouldn’t expect there to be the means to run any credible equivalents in other countries with little or no other jumps action or bloodstock naturally suited to it.
Jeremy
(graysonscolumn)Jeremy Grayson. Son of immigrant. Adoptive father of two. Metadata librarian. Freelance point-to-point / horse racing writer, analyst and commentator wonk. Loves music, buses, cats, the BBC Micro, ale. Advocate of CBT, PACE and therapeutic parenting. Aspergers.
) but always feel robbed as so many horses PU or get brought down. I like watching the re run with the spotlight on the winner along with slow mos of horses that were so unlucky. ie Clan Royal being carried out. Anyway, Wine kicks in and butterflies flutter. God only knows how the owners, trainers and jock feel.
Too many poor horses to interfere with the good ones IMO
) Trouble is, by then I had already got 8 of the 12 horses and was rather annoyed!
What is the good reason no one tries to copy it?
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