Page 22 - April 2007 The Game

22 The Game, April 2007 Canada’s Thoroughbred Racing Newspaper
Amazing Tales of The Grand National
By Nigel Griffiths
It’s been a number of years since Elizabeth Taylor
showed her outstanding abilities as a trainer and jockey, guiding ‘The Pie’ against all odds to an unbelievable victory in the Grand National Steeplechase at Aintree, England.
The fairytale ending is not the sole property of Hollywood movies as this historic race is steeped with stories percolating with emotion and improbability.
The first Grand National was held in 1836 and the race was won by a horse named Lottery. Today, with 40 runners over 30 daunting fences, the race may be considered by many to be a lottery, but the facts argue otherwise.
The race is the ultimate test of a steeplechase horse and jockey, a 4 mile 4 furlong handicap chase, run over two circuits of the National course, where all of the fences except two are jumped twice. The winner will collect around C$930,000 and a place in the history books.
It’s a race that captivates the whole country; everybody has a bet and the once-a-year punter becomes a racing expert for the day. Even my mom has a bet! On the morning of the race, chaos rules the betting offices as the gamblers line up to put on small bets for themselves, wives, children, grandmothers, aunties, uncles, and sometimes even the family dog. Most businesses will hold a Pool competition and the recipients will follow their horses intently throughout the race, or for as long as they remain standing, in the hope of collecting and having the satisfaction of announcing to all, that they had the winner.
Why bother with all form, handicapping, stats or other logical tools - it’s obvious, the only way to pick the winner is by the colour of the silks, the names of the jockeys and horses, or whatever your lucky number is!
During the 20s, the race was embraced by the masses as it was covered for the first time by radio, and in 1960, the BBC made it available on TV. Worldwide, 600 million viewers will watch the race this year and nearly 70,000 will jam the racecourse. An expected C$580 million will be bet on the race which makes it, by far, the biggest betting event in the UK.
One of the most difficult fences, and certainly the most
famous, is Bechers Brook with its two foot drop on the landing side. It was named after Captain Martin Becher who in 1839, fell at the fence and sought shelter from the following runners in the stream on the landing side. He was allegedly to have exclaimed, “Water tastes disgusting without the benefits of whisky!" In more recent years the brook has been filled in and the drop leveled slightly, but it’s still an awesome sight to watch 40 thoroughbreds jump over.
Between 1895 and 1904, the mighty Manifesto ran in a record eight Nationals, winning the race twice and finish third on three other occasions. This powerful son of Man O’ War once carried a weight of 175lbs to victory (still a record) and a crushing 181lbs into third.
In Manifesto’s final Aintree year, the famous New Zealand horse Moiffa claimed victory. The previous year, Moiffa was shipwrecked off the southern coast of Ireland and apparently, the horse swam 50 miles to safety, certainly showing everybody that he had the constitution necessary to win such a grueling race.
In 1934, the hugely imposing bay, Golden Miller, won the National and put himself firmly into the record books. Golden Miller is the only horse to complete the Gold Cup/Grand National double in the same year, and to add to that, he is the only horse to win the Cheltenham Gold Cup five times. Once described as ‘a god on four legs’, he carried 170lbs and Canadian jockey Gerry Wilson to an easy five length victory, collecting the princely sum of C$17,000 for his efforts.
Another to have a fence named after him was Foinavon. In 1967, with the field approaching an innocuous fence, a riderless horse (the very aptly named Popham Down) ran across the fence causing the leaders to fall or refuse, which in turn created a domino effect, with the ensuing chaos bringing the race to a standstill. Plodding along at the rear was 100/1 shot Foinavon. Approaching the melee, jockey John Buckingham steered the horse through the stricken masses and over the fence to continue towards home. Much like a Buster Keaton movie, some of the jockeys collected their mounts and chased after him. With the depleted pack in pursuit, he managed to navigate the remaining fences and sustain his
gallop to the line. Since that day, it has been known as the Foinavon Fence.
Now consider a jockey stricken with cancer and a horse with legs so fragile he was just a step away from the meat factory.
The year was 1981, the horse was Aldaniti, the jockey Bob Champion, and the trainer Josh Gifford. It was the intense desire to ride Aldaniti in the National that kept Champion going through the tortures of chemotherapy. Under the patient care of Gifford, the gutsy, if not completely sound horse, made it to the races and Bob Champion recovered sufficiently to ride. When the horse and jockey took up the running, the whole nation jumped the remaining fences with them and there wasn’t a dry eye in the grandstands when horse and rider passed the post, clear of Spartan Missile. A movie was made called ‘Champions’ and the horse and jockey went on to raise C$7 million for cancer research. Although Bob Champion is still around campaigning on behalf of cancer research, Aldaniti, after a comfortable retirement, died at age 27 in March 1997.
There’s nothing like backing your dream: when Irish horse Monty’s Pass won the race in 2003, one of his owners picked up C$1.86 million in ante post bets.
Perhaps the strangest happening in the National was that of Devon Loch in 1956. Owned by the Queen Mother and ridden by now best-selling author, Dick Francis, the horse was in front and 50 yards from victory, when it inexplicably jumped in the air and landed spread-eagled on the ground. Much has been speculated as to why it happened, but not even the jockey himself knew. No wonder he went on to write mystery novels with plots fanciful and improbable.
Star status at Aintree in more recent years has been reserved for the bay gelding named Red Rum. Foaled in 1965, Red Rum was bred to be a sprinter, but he developed into a record breaking Grand National specialist. No other horse has ever won three Grand Nationals and to cap it all, he finished second on his two other attempts, all this while suffering from a painful inflammation of the hoof.
Red Rum won the race in 1973/74 and again in 1977, by 25 lengths, at the age of 12. His victories made him a household name and when his racing career closed, he became a true equine celebrity, raising thousands of pounds for charity while attending fundraising events. Red Rum was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1977 and actually attended the presentation in ‘person’, entering the studio via the stage lift.
Who will triumph this year? On Saturday, April 14 we will know the answer.
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Highland Wedding subsequently became a hunter, owned by Ms. Joan Addison and lived a comfortable and well deserved retirement until his death at the age of 27.
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