Features 
/ Adam Brookes / 26 March 2012 / Leave a Comment 
The thrills and spills of Aintree
"There's nearly always something of the inevitable with National winners..."
Fresh from compiling a similar piece for the Cheltenham Festival, Timeform's Adam Brookes provides his A to Z for one of his favourite races in the whole calendar, the Aintree Grand National...
A - Aldaniti will be one of hundreds of horses whose moniker is made up of abbreviations of their owner's/breeder's family member's names but he's almost certainly the most successful. Aldaniti and jockey Bob Champion's infamous 1981 episode ranks as only a short-head second to Lazarus in the list of The 100 Greatest Comebacks, with the horse even having the requisite charisma to star as himself in the subsequent 'Champions' feature film.
B - As many a racing historian has informed us, Becher's Brook is so named because of the early-19th century incident in which Captain Martin Becher got his breeches wet before dryly remarking how foul water tasted without the addition of whisky. The fence itself has long been in the sights of those who question the race's safety and has consequently had its 'drop' reduced to a maximum 10 inches ahead of the 2012 renewal.
C - While Canal Turn and the name Carberry would be worthy entries in this list, it would be unjust to overlook the heroic efforts of Crisp in 1973. It became obvious early on just why the former Australian two-miler had been nicknamed "The Black Kangaroo" and Julian Wilson's incredulous cry of "I can't remember a horse so far ahead in the Grand National at this stage" at around the 20th was right on the money. However, with 250 yards to run there was an air of inevitability about the result with fellow joint-favourite Red Rum (receiving 23 lb!) stalking and, as has become racing legend, Crisp was mugged in the dying strides.
D - The 1956 running will forever be associated with the letter D; Devon Loch's baffling bellyflop handing the race to E.S.B, ridden by Dave Dick. The reason for the Queen Mother-owned Devon Loch's depositing of Dick Francis 45 metres from the post remains a mystery, with the noise from the crowd having spooked the horse the most plausible explanation.
E - Having withstood the attentions of animal activists at the start, the 1993 National became embroiled in turmoil for a secondary reason when two false starts were given, notably with Richard Dunwoody becoming entangled in the take-off tape. Amazingly, however, seven riders managed to miss the shouts and gesticulations to pull up and complete the whole race, with John White and Esha Ness going on to 'win' what was soon to be known as "The National That Never Was". Dunwoody would ride his second winner of the big race on the Freddie Starr-owned Minnehoma 12 months later.
F - So unconvinced was owner Cyril Watkins that his Foinavon would put up a bold show in the 1967 race that he didn't even bother to journey to the course. Punters shared Watkin's view with Foinavon, whose claim to fame up to then had been that he'd previously been owned by Anne, Duchess of Westminster, and shared being named after a Scottish mountain range with her Arkle, sent off a 100/1 chance. Foinavon managed to sidestep the mêlée at the 23rd fence and go on to become an unlikely winner, his owner having registered the black with red and yellow braces worn by John Buckingham in the lead up to the race having felt that the two-tone green quarters previously adorned were unlucky. Foinavon, of course, had the offending fence renamed in his honour.
G - Golden Miller still stands as the only winner of the Gold Cup and Grand National in the same year (1934). Can Synchronised, now rated 168 by Timeform, match that feat this time round?
H - The Hobbs family scribed their name in the National history book when 17-year-old Bruce became the youngest jockey to win the race when partnering his father Reg's diminutive Battleship to success in 1938. Battleship was also the first American owned and bred horse to land the Liverpool feature.
I - The Irish are always well represented, responsible for five winners since the Carberry family's Bobbyjo did the business just before the turn of the century. The Willie Mullins-trained favourite Prince de Beauchene is currently 12 lb clear of his nearest rival on Timeform weight-adjusted ratings for this year's Grand National.
J - Jenny Pitman became the first woman to train an Aintree National winner when Corbiere, who was named after a lighthouse located near his owner's home in the Channel Islands, narrowly defeated the persistent Greasepaint in 1983. Pitman was to win the race again with Royal Athlete a dozen years later and became the only trainer other than Martin Pipe to win all of the big four Nationals when Mudahim triumphed in the Irish version in 1997.
K - No Grand National is complete without the customary appearance of Ken Dodd, the octogenarian looking tickled to be cutting the ribbon at last year's proceedings on what was officially 'Liverpool Day'.
L - While the Lake District plays its part in proceedings as it's provides the spruce used to make the iconic fences what they are, pub quizzers' pal Lord Gyllene surely deserves a mention for being the winner of the 'bomb scare' National run on Monday April 7, 1997.
M - With the McCain's being given due credit in this piece under the letter R (no prizes for guessing why) attention is turned to J P McManus, who fulfilled a lifelong dream when Don't Push It landed the race in 2010. The owner could be represented by the Jonjo O'Neill-trained Cheltenham Festival heroes Synchronised and Sunnyhillboy this year.
N - N is for nationwide gambles. The presence of A P McCoy launched Don't Push It into one two years ago, while 7/1 joint-favourite Comply Or Die repaid punters' faith a couple of years before that. What's more, the Northern Irish-based Dee Racing Syndicate reportedly scooped a cool £1 million when Barry Geraghty guided their Monty's Pass to success in 2003.
O - Old Joe was the first winner of the race at its present home when victorious at odds of 25/1 in 1886, while Sir Peter "The Voice" O'Sullevan called home the winners of the 50 renewals from '47 to '97 on television and radio.
P - Standing 18 hands high, the tubed Party Politics became the biggest horse to ever win the Aintree marathon when a topical scorer on the eve of a General Election in 1992. Bought by Patricia Thompson of Cheveley Park Stud fame just three days before his finest hour, Party Politics would go on to finish second as an 11-year-old to the year-older Royal Athlete in '95.
Q - Quare Times relished to torrential conditions to score in 1955, providing Vincent O'Brien with his third consecutive winner.
R - There's nothing that can be said about Red Rum that hasn't been much more eloquently stated since the horse's never-to-be-surpassed achievements in the 1970s. Red Rum provided three legs of the late Ginger McCain's National quartet that was completed by veteran Amberleigh House almost three decades later, with son Donald continuing the family's successful association with the race by saddling Ballabriggs to victory 12 months ago.
S - There's nearly always something of the inevitable with National winners and 1991 was no different, the race seemingly destined to go to the Sir Eric Parker-owned winner Seagram owing to the event sponsor, The Seagram Company alcohol distillery.
T - The Chair is the tallest fence on the course at five foot two inches but, somewhat surprisingly, is rarely the scene of mass exits; just 11 departing there in the last 11 renewals. The obstacle is one of only two to be jumped just once and takes its name from the days when a chair was sited alongside the fence seating a distance judge used when races were to be comprised of heats.
U - Unseating is understandably a common occurrence in the National and it was a factor in just two finishing the 1928 race won by 100/1-shot Tipperary Time. Famously, Foinavon's National was similarly high on carnage, while over a quarter of the field unseated in the heavy-ground slog won by Red Marauder in '01 (four completed, but two had been remounted).
V - Valentine's Brook, Bechers' slightly smaller brother, also got its name from a strange turn of events by where Irish amateur jockey Alan Power struck a wager that he would be leading at the halfway mark on his mount Valentine in 1840. You guessed it, a furlong clear after Canal Turn, Power reportedly attempted to drive his mount into the next impediment so vigourously that the horse thought better of it, catapulting the rider over both fence and brook.
W - West Tip became a favourite amongst the once-a-year punters of the 1980s, his success in 1986 achieved on the second of his six starts in the race.
X - The symbol that connections don't want to see next to their horse's Timeform master rating going into the National. Aintree in April is no place for bad jumpers.
Y - Youth was a big advantage it seemed from 1929-1934, with four seven-year-olds victorious during that period. There are four horses of that age currently entered for this year's renewal, with last year's Irish Grand National winner Organisedconfusion by far the shortest in the betting.
Z - Zoedone was a winner in 1883 and one of only 13 mares to have won the race, the last being Nickel Coin in 1951.
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