Sponsor for the Grand National

Press, Volume CXI, Issue 32706, 8 September 1971, Page 9

Sponsor for the Grand National

(N.Z. Press Assn.—Copy right)

There ore few people, |n racing who ever believed the Grend NeHonal would die.

As a spectacle. and traditional set-piece of the British scene it has no equal. Yet, in the last decade, references to “the last Grand National” have flowed from informed and uninformed sources.

The race’s great private sponsor and inspiration, Mrs Mirabel Topham, added to the alarm by

announcing recently that her family company had spent a great. deal of money on the Grand National Alntree racecourse and the surrounding locality, and that It was becoming Increasingly difficult' for the Grand National to be carried on by a-family company. In February this year plans were announced for linking the racecourse with a commercial, Industrial, and residential complex, and Mrs Topham agreed the time was ripe for Alntree to be redeveloped ta a manner which would be attractive to large commercial interests and at the same time retain the racecourse with new stands and facilities. Now, Mrs Topham has obtained the exciting support of important international sponsors—BX Oil Limited—to keep the world’s greatest steeplechase alive. BP will support the 1972 Grand National by adding ’ $19,000 ($21400) to the prize money. Tophami, Limited, and the Horserace Betting Levy Board r n toSf h oF^& w £ l prize money.