About Grand National

The Grand National is arguably the most famous horse race in the world and is held at Aintree Racecourse. It's a handicap chase run over a distance of about 4 miles and 856 yards, with thirty fences to be jumped and the 2012 Grand National will be run on the afternoon of Saturday April 14th.

It's without doubt the biggest horse race in the UK( It had a total prize fund of £900,000 last year). The gruelling race is run over two circuits of the Aintree Course, which is triangular in shape and has sixteen fences, with all the fences, except The Chair and the Water Jump, being jumped twice. The Grand National is currently sponsored by John Smith's and is the main event of a three-day meeting, and it's estimated that the race is watched worldwide by over 600 million viewers.

The Grand National dates back to 1836 and was allegedly founded by William Philip Molyneux, 2nd Earl of Sefton, on land he owned at Aintree. In all that time and in all those races, the horse that's been by far the most successful and who's name has become synonymous with the Grand National and as a reault Horse Racing in general, is Red Rum. Red Rum is the only horse to win three times, in 1973, 1974, and in 1977 and he also came in second in the two intervening years, 1975 and 1976.