The Grand National

This is a National Horse Racing event. It was first held in 1839. It is held every year at Aintree Racecourse, Liverpool, England. The race is run for a distance of about 6.9 km. Horses are required to jump 30 fences within the two laps that they compete. This race has a prize tag of 1 million euros making it the most expensive jump race in Europe.

The Course

The race is the longest National Hunt competition in Britain. There are 16 obstacles to beat in this competition. Horses jump all 16 fences in the first lap and jump only 14 fences in the second lap. All fences in the race have different designs. Fence 1, 7, 14, 17,23 and 30 stand at 1.37 meters each. Fence 2, 13, 18, and 29 have a height of 1.40 meters. Fences 3, 4, 19, and 20 have a height of 1.47 meters. Fences 5, 6, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 21, 22, 24, 25, 26, 27 and 28 have a height of 1.52 meters. Fence 15 is also known as The Chair. It has a height of 1.57 meters. Fence 16 is the water jump. It has a height of 0.76 meters.

Heroes

The competition has seen some of the greatest horses compete for the huge price tag. The leading horse in this competition is Red Rum which has 3 wins to its name- 1973, 1974, and 1977. George Stevens is the leading jockey in this competition with 5 wins- 1856, 1863, 1864, 1869, and 1870.

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