GRAND NATIONAL AT AINTREE

Press, Volume XC, Issue 27309, 27 March 1954, Page 4

GRAND NATIONAL AT AINTREE

THIS YEAR’S BIG RACE TODAY THRILLING EVENT WITH COLOURFUL HISTORY The 1954 English Grand National, which is to be decided at Aintree today, is certain to attract the usual capacity attendance. First run nearly 120 years ago, this formidable test for horse and man has increasingly captured public imagination, and now the only other horse race in the British Isles to make a stronger appeal to the public is the Derby. The Grand National course measures four miles and 856 yards. The circuit is half that distance, and has to be covered twice. There are 30 stiff jumps and a broad water-jump to be negotiated. The last fence is nearly three furlongs from the winning post. Two-thirds of the course is outside the territory used for flat racing, and at the far end of the steeplechase the horses are nearly a mile from the stands and their progress can only be followed when visibility is good. The Grand National is undoubtedly the toughest of all steeplechases. Usually only a very small percentage of the starters complete the course. The thrills and spills combine to make the National the most popular event of its kind in the world. . An innkeeper’s notion of how to promote custom led to the birth of this race. The innkeeper was William Lynn, owner of the Waterloo Hotel at Aintree, near Liverpool. In the year 1836 he decided to lease the open grdund facing his hotel, and hold on it a selling steeplechase sweepstake of 10 sovereigns each, with 80 sovereigns added. The event proved so popular and brought so much profit to the hotel that in the following year another steeplechase, with the selling proviso removed and with 100 soverigns added by the Town of Liverpool, was run over the same course, and became the first of a long series of Grand Nationals. Manifesto’s Record A comprehensive record of the history of the Grand National would fill volumes, and would include many great names. No record would be complete without mention of the greatest winner of all—Manifyto. This mighty jumper started eight tfines in the race. He won twice, and was third three times, and fourth once. This record has every prospect of standing for many years to come. Admission charges to the Grand National meeting at Liverpool this year are staggering when compared with charges in New Zealand. For the County Stand (by invitation) in the main enclosure, weekly badges* for the three-day meeting cost £6 14s 2jd, plus tax of £3 5s 9Jd, making a total of £lO for either men or women. Daily badges for -the first and second days are £1 15s 3Jd. plus tax of 17s 2£d, making a total of £2 12s 6d. Badges for National day in the County Stand are £4 0s 3id, plus £1 I9s B£d, making a total of £6 for the day. Additional charges are: saloon seats, £4 weekly, or roof seats, £3. So, for a man and his wife to have a seat at the National in the County Stand, with a saloon seat, the cost is £2O, which includes tax. It also costs 12s 6d to park a car in reserved spaces on National day, and 10s on the other days. Modest patrons, content to go Into the reserved enclosure and paddock, are charged £1 Is Hid, and an additional tax of 10s 6Jd. On National day, the combined charges are £2 10s. “ HORSE TRAINER’S PARADISE ” The former New Zealander, Maurice McCarten, now a leading Sydney trainer, says that California is a horse trainer’s paradise. McCarten recently spent a short holiday In the United States. “Trainers are paid about 100 dollars <£N.Z. £37 4s) a week to prepare a horse,” said McCarten. "It’s the only place in the world where a trainer can make a profit by training horses and not have to worry whether they win or lose.”