Grand National History
The History of the Grand National is long and illustrious and continues to grow with every passing year, the first ever winner of the race was in 1839 when the appropriately named Lottery came into claim the win. Since then there has been some memorable moments from record breaking wins to void races, but still the Grand National continues to grow in popularity and is known as the worlds biggest Steeplechase.
Perhaps the most famous name in the history of the Grand NAtional is that of Red Rum, the brilliant horse was trained by Ginger McCain and he won the race a magnificent three times in the 70's. He won two-in-a-row in 1973 and 1974 in some style but perhaps the most memorable win was in 1977 when he came back to win a fantastic third Grand National as a 9/1 shot at 12 years of age. Ginger McCain has won the race four times in all as he added Amberleigh House to the name of Red Rum in 2004, that was one of the most popular wins for sometime with Ginger the toast of Aintree.
One of the most memorable races in Grand National history was the 'race that never was in 1993, it was declared void after 30 of the 39 horses failed to realise that a false start had been called. In remarkable scenes, 7 of the field actually went on to finish the race without knowing what had happened and first across the line was Esha Ness who was trained by Jenny Pitman. It was decided that the race would not be re-run meaning it goes down as a void race but holds its place as one of the most memorable sporting moment of all time.
Most Successful Horse
- Red Rum - 1973, 1974, 1977
Most Successful Trainer
- George Dockeray - 1839, 1840, 1842, 1852
- Fred Rimell - 1956, 1961, 1970, 1976
- Ginger McCain - 1973, 1974, 1977, 2004
Leading Jockey
- George Stevens - 1856, 1863, 1864, 1869, 1870
