THE first official races at Aintree were organised by a syndicate headed by the owner of Liverpool’s Waterloo Hotel, William Lynn.

He leased the land from Lord Sefton, set out a course and built a grandstand. Lord Molyneux laid the foundation stone on February 7th, 1829, and placed a bottle full of sovereigns in the footings.

The first flat fixture was held five months later when Mufti won the opener, the 10-furlong Croxteth Stakes.

Unofficially christened the Grand National for the first time, the 1839 renewal was run at Aintree on Tuesday, February 26th over a distance of four miles, with an estimated 40,000 people attending. The obstacles included a stone wall, a stretch of ploughed land and two hurdles up the finishing straight. Lottery, the 5/1 favourite, owned by John Elmore and ridden by Jem Mason, took the honours.

Captain Martin Becher was unseated from his mount, Conrad, when jumping the first brook on the first circuit, and the fence immediately became known as Becher’s Brook.

1841

Following a scrimmage the year before, the wall was replaced by a water jump. Charity, ridden by Horatio Nelson Powell gained a two-length advantage at the last hurdle which she maintained to the finish. She was the first of 13 mares to win the Grand National. She was buried at Dormington Court in Herefordshire, wearing the racing plates she wore that famous day.

1851

Abd-El-Kader became the first dual Grand National winner. Unquoted in the betting prior to his 1850 victory, the bookmakers installed him 7/1 joint favourite a year later. Carrying just 6lb more than the previous year, Abd-El-Kader obliged in one of the finest finishes seen in a Grand National, winning by half a neck.

He is one of eight horses who have won two Grand Nationals, while Red Rum is the only three-time winner. This was the third Irish-trained success, the winner also being ridden by Joseph ‘Beacon’ Osborne of Dardistown Castle.

1861

Trained by Charles Balchin and ridden by Joseph Kendall, Jealousy became the fourth mare to win the Grand National. The following year she was left in the Grand National entries but did not run, leading to accusations of her connections “milking” the public, and staining themselves “with the brand of infamy”. In 1863 she finished sixth.

1871

The 1868 winner The Lamb was rerouted to the Sefton Chase the following year, finishing fourth, and was then out of action for two years with a wasting disease. Now trained by Chris Green, this made his 1871 victory all the more remarkable when he became the fourth dual Grand National winner.

George Ede, his rider in 1868, was killed in a chase at Aintree in 1870, and Lord Poulett engaged Tommy Pickernell to ride him after having had a vivid dream three months before the race, in which he saw the jockey ride the grey to victory. The following year The Lamb finished fourth. He was sold to Baron Oppenheim and sent to Germany where he died in 1872.

1881

The Empress of Austria was present to see her friend Henry Linde send out the winner for the second successive year, Woodbrook becoming the seventh Irish-trained victor and scoring easily by four lengths. Amateur rider Tommy Beasley, also successful in 1880, was again in the saddle. Woodbrook was sold to Germany, returned to England for another tilt at the Grand National in 1883 but died suddenly at his new stables.

1891

Seven-year-old Come Away, trained in Ireland by Harry Beasley and ridden by him, won as the 4/1 favourite, beating Cloister by half a length after a sustained duel from the second last. He was the ninth Irish winner. Harry Beasley was the brother of amateur rider Tommy who won in 1880, 1881 and 1889.

1901

Despite protests from the jockeys, racing went ahead in a ferocious blizzard. Grudon, an 11-year-old entire, made all to give his rider Arthur Nightingall a third victory in the race. Only eight of the 24 runners finished, and Grudon’s victory was probably due to his owner and trainer Bernard Bletsoe having packed his hoofs with butter to prevent the snow from balling in them. Grudon later sired many good hunters and cross-country horses.

1911

Glenside prevailed in a remarkable renewal, as he was the only horse to complete without falling or being brought down. Three horses were subsequently remounted to finish. Glenside died in 1915 and is buried alongside the 1905 winner Kirkland at the home of their owner Frank Bibby in Shropshire.

1921

Some 35 runners, a new record, contested the Grand National, but only Shaun Spadah managed to negotiate the course without mishap, succeeding by a distance. The other three finishers all remounted.

The following year Shaun Spadah fell at the first, but in 1923, carrying 12st 7lb, he was a gallant second to Sergeant Murphy. Shaun Spadah was used as a hack by his trainer, George Poole, and died aged 29 in 1940. He is buried on the former racecourse at Lewes.

1931

Grakle won at the fifth attempt in the year that the tote first operated at Aintree. He provided trainer Tom Coulthwaite’s third success, after Eremon (1907) and Jenkinstown (1910). Grakle was owned by Liverpool cotton broker Cecil Rowson Taylor and is buried at Tattenhall in Cheshire.

1941

No race. Aintree was occupied by units of the French Navy, as well as British and Polish soldiers, and later there was also a small camp for Italian POWs near the Canal Turn. The course was hit by bombs during the May Blitz in 1941 and one member of staff lost his life. From 1942 it was used as a base for American troops for the remainder of World War II.

1951

The race was a fiasco following a shambolic start in which Leslie Firth pressed the starting lever with only half the jockeys prepared for it. It led to a mad dash across the Melling Road, with runners taking the first fence much too fast and horses falling ‘like ninepins’. Twelve of the 36 runners fell or were brought down in the worst pile-up since 1928.

By the end of the first circuit only five of the runners were left standing. Soon only two were left, Nickel Coin and Royal Tan, but at the last Royal Tan made a mistake and Nickel Coin went on to win by six lengths. The Jack O’Donoghue-trained Nickel Coin, partnered by Johnny Bullock, was the 13th and last mare to win the Grand National.

1961

Nicolaus Silver, trained by Fred Rimell and ridden by Bobby Beasley, becomes the second grey to win the Grand National, The Lamb having been successful in 1868 and 1871. Nicolaus Silver held on to win by five lengths over the previous year’s winner Merryman II. He was the second of Rimell’s four Grand National winners. Two Russian horses took part, but neither got around.

1971

The John Sutcliffe-trained Specify (John Cook) beat Black Secret (Jim Dreaper) by a neck in one of the most exciting renewals. The winner was owned by holiday camp magnate Fred Pontin. Trevor Hemmings, who led a management buyout of Pontins in 1987, was so inspired by the win that he became determined to win the Grand National, realising his dream with Hedgehunter in 2005, Ballabriggs in 2011 and Many Clouds in 2015.

1981

An emotional year in which winning jockey Bob Champion, who in late 1979 was told he had cancer and only months to live, overcame adversity on the Josh Gifford-trained Aldaniti, who himself had almost been retired because of leg trouble. Runner-up Spartan Missile added to the story as he was ridden by 54-year-old grandfather and amateur rider John Thorne.

1991

The last Seagram Grand National saw victory go to the aptly-named, New Zealand-bred Seagram, whom the company’s chairman Ivan Straker twice had the opportunity to buy. Instead the owner was Sir Eric Parker, with Nigel Hawke on board the winner, trained by David Barons in Devon.

2001

Red Marauder enabled Norman Mason to become the most recent permit-holder to send out the Grand National winner. Mason’s assistant Richard Guest was in the saddle. Martin Pipe saddled a record 10 of the runners, finishing third with Blowing Wind. Only four horses finished, with two of those having been remounted.

The winning margin was a distance and the race saw the first reserve to line up, the Irish-trained Merry People.

2011

The McCain family celebrated a fifth training success when Donald sent out Ballabriggs under Jason Maguire and gave owner Trevor Hemmings a second Grand National winner, as prize money rose to £950,000. It was an emotional time for Ginger McCain who passed away just over five months later. Amateur rider Sam Waley-Cohen finished second on the Martin-Lynch-trained Oscar Time. Bypassing of fences used for the first time.