The Grand National is a famous race held on a Saturday every April in Aintree, England. In the race, the horses run a distance of about 4 miles and 856 yards. There are also 30 fences to be jumped in the race. It has quit a bit of history behind it.
The most famous horse ever to race in the Grand National is Red Rum. He won The Grand National 3 times and lost it twice. He won the race in 1973, 1974, and 1977, but he unfortunately lost the race in 1975 and 1976.
The Grand National has many big hedges positioned throughout the course. When a horse reaches a hedge, he needs to jump over it. .Sometimes a horse doesn't jump smoothly and its rider falls off.If this happened, the rider would have to lay at the bottom of the jump until all the other horses have jumped over it. If he didn't, he would get stepped on by a horse and get injured.
The Grand National is a long and tiring race. Most people fall off their horses before the end of the race. If this happens, the rider will have to catch his own horse! Sometimes the rider is unable to catch his horse until after a horse or horses cross the finish line.
Becher's Brook, an eight foot hedge with a pond on the end the horses land on, is the hardest jump on the course. Many racers fall off their horses on it. Becher was a famous jockey that raced in the Grand National. He is most famous for falling off his horse on a jump with a brook on the other side during the Grand National. He managed to remount his horse, but he was far behind the pack.On the next lap, he fell off his horse on the same jump with the brook! That jump was then known as Becher's Brook, named after the jockey.
Every year, hundreds of fans go to see the Grand National. Many authors wrote about the history of the it. Though the race is tough, many owners enter their horses in the race, and many jockeys ride in it. It shall be run every year for hundreds of years to come.
