2011 Grand National, Facts and Figures
Posted on 25. Mar, 2011 by admin in Sports
When dealing with a sporting event as notorious at the Grand National at Aintree Racecourse, you can be certain that there is a rich and vibrant history to be delved into…
The first Grand National was held way back in 1839, however, it did not enjoy the same level of precision organisation and good fortune that the current incarnation of the event receives – the race did not start until two hours after its scheduled starting time due to confusion over the weighing procedures. This first race saw 5-1 favourite, Lottery, come in first place.
Nowadays, the Grand National has a starting field of forty runners; this was not always the case and in the 1929 Grand National saw an incredible sixty-six entrants take to the starting line. On the opposite end of the spectrum, the 1883 Grand National saw a mere ten runners face the starter…
There is always much speculation about how many of the entrants will actually make it all the way around the gruelling course (one of the most popular types of Grand National bet is attempting to predict how many finishers there will be in total); in 1984 there were a total of twenty-three finishers, by far the largest ever.
The Grand National is known for being the longest and most exhausting horse racing event there is, however, some horses do seem to make it look easy – none more so than the aptly named Mr Frisk in 1990, who managed to complete the four mile course in the lightning quick time of eight minutes and forty-seven seconds (taking the first place position in doing so).
Various changes have been made to the course and layout at Aintree Racecourse since the original inception of the Grand National, for example, the first five runnings of the Grand National included a stone wall which was positioned where the water jump now stands.
The most successful horse in the history of the Grand National is the infamous Red Rum, who has claimed victory an impressive three times…
The 2011 Grand National looks set to make history of its own, with many exciting pundits visiting online bookmakers to take advantage of their various promotional offers and the occasionalfree bet that’s up for grabs.