The Grand National records | Every winner from 1836 to 2016
The Grand National – Past Winners
Past Winners Of The Grand National
Venture into your local betting shop on Grand National day and you will be surrounded by a lot of unfamiliar faces. Once a year punters who would never dream of having a bet on any other day of the year, for such is the magnetism of the Grand National Handicap Steeplechase, the world’s most famous horserace.
First held in 1836, the race was the brainchild of Mr William Lynn, proprietor of Liverpool’s Waterloo Hotel, who fashioned it on the St Albans Steeplechase, Britain’s most important jump race at the time. Ten runners went to post for the inaugural race and The Duke, ridden by Capt. Martin Becher, emerged as the first ever winner of the race that would soon become known as the Grand National Handicap Steeplechase. Becher was unable to take the ride the following year, but Mr Henry Potts, a Cheshire solicitor, proved an able replacement as The Duke entered racing folklore by winning the event for a second time.
Becher was one of the top riders of the day and in 1839 he gained Turf immortality when the first big Brook was named in his honour when his mount Conrad twice deposited him into it during an eventful race. Lynn’s innovation soon proved a major success and the Liverpool entrepreneur, who also founded Coursing’s Waterloo Cup, achieved his main goal of attracting thousands of visitors to Merseyside to boost the local economy. However, it would be fair to say that even he couldn’t possibly have forecast the impact the new race would eventually make, not just in Britain but all over the world.
Looking to bet on the Grand National? Check out the best betting sites for horse race betting here . The National has always been a big betting event with people who never bet always having a flutter on the big race. With such a wide field every year its hard to predict the winner which give way to long odds and big wins. There’s also the annual office sweep stake to try and win too!
Nowadays, entry is restricted to 7-year-olds and upwards and being a handicap event means that all runners are allocated their big race weights dependent on their official ratings, age and sex. The race is traditionally run in early April and is watched worldwide by an estimated television audience of over 800 million viewers.
It was known as the Liverpool Great Steeplechase from 1836-1842 and as the Liverpool and National Handicap Steeplechase from 1843-1846. It was run at Gatwick from 1916-1918 during World War I, postponed from 1942-1945 during World War II and was declared void in 1993 following two false starts by official Keith Brown, much to the embarrassment of the Aintree board of directors.
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