Grand National

My fellow Americans, I put it to you that the 2021 Liverpool Grand National was an epoch-making sporting event --like the sub-4-minute mile of Roger Bannister in 1954 or the first MLB game of Jackie Robinson in 1947. In the 1944 movie "National Velvet" a very young Elizabeth Taylor faints and slides off her beloved horse Pie after having crossed the finish line first in the Grand National--that mad race where 40 horses and riders are to jump 30 high fences over 4 1/2 miles. The after-the-finish fall is what...

Goffs has 68 confirmed entries for its Online March Sale on Mar. 24, including three horses with entries for the Randox Grand National on Apr. 10. The sale will be a timed auction, meaning there will be no auctioneer and bidding on each lot will close in accordance with the times noted on their catalogue pages. The three Grand National entries to be offered are the multiple graded winner Alpha Des Obeaux (Fr) (Saddler Maker {Ire}) (lot 47); the G1 Ryanair Chase winner Balko Des Flos (Fr) (Balko {Fr}) (lot...

Three-time Grand National-winning trainer Gordon Elliott is fully cooperating with the Irish Horseracing Regulatory Board (IHRB)'s inquiry into a disputed photo allegedly displaying Elliott sitting on a dead horse, the BBC reported on Sunday. The image, which some believe to be digitally altered, appears to show Elliott making a peace gesture while sitting on a dead horse lying on its side and captioned "new work rider". "I'm aware of a photo circulating on social media," the trainer tweeted late on Saturday night. "The IHRB have been in contact with me...

The racing world has lost one of its most popular and respected characters with the passing at the age of 77 of former Grand National-winning jockey Pat Buckley, who ranks as one of the most influential administrators in the history of racing in the United Arab Emirates. Born and raised in Ireland, Pat Buckley spent his entire riding career based in the north of England in the Middleham stable of Captain Neville Crump, who was then one of the country's leading National Hunt trainers and to whom Buckley worked firstly...

Nicholas Wrigley, currently chairman of investment bank N M Rothschild & Sons Limited, has been named to succeed the late Rose Paterson as chairman of Aintree Racecourse. Wrigley was appointed as a Jockey Club Member in 1994 and was senior steward of The Jockey Club between 2009 and 2014. He has been chairman of The National Stud since 2019. He has been on the York Race Committee since 1992 and was chairman from 2005 to 2011. He is also a director of Pontefract Racecourse and an active racehorse owner/breeder in...

Still another track, Golden Gate Fields, was forced to stop racing last week, leaving only a precious few wagering opportunities for action-hungry horseplayers. But more betting opportunities are on their way--even if they aren't necessarily the real thing. Wagering on virtual horse races is now being offered by three ADWs and more are expected to come on board soon. The contestants are computer generated horses or greyhounds that dart across the screen in real time, battling it out against one another to see who gets to the wire first. Virtual...

Potters Corner (Ire) (Indian Danehill {Ire}), trained by Christian Williams and ridden by Jack Tudor, was an 18-1 winner of ITV's Virtual Grand National on Saturday. The 5-1 favourite Tiger Roll (Ire) (Authorized {Ire}), winner of the last two runnings of Aintree's famed steeplechase, was fourth. ITV announced that it would put on a virtually simulated Grand National using CGI technology after the real event was cancelled last month as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. The Virtual Grand National quickly became a charitable event, with a handful of bookmakers...

ITV will next Saturday show a virtually simulated version of the Grand National, the day after the race was supposed to be run at Aintree. Using CGI technology and created by Inspired Entertainment, the race will feature the 40 horses and riders that had been expected to line up. Executive producer Rob McLoughlin said, "It's very sad not to have the real race, but Inspired's virtual race is fascinating and fun and has proven since 2017 to be incredibly accurate. "It is brave to preview the most unpredictable race of...

The Grand National Festival set for Aintree from Apr. 2 to 4 has been canceled. The Jockey Club deemed it "no longer appropriate" to stage the festival after the UK government announced heightened restrictions Monday evening on non-essential travel and mass gatherings. "The Randox Health Grand National Festival was just three weeks away and it's very clear to us it will not be possible for the event to take place. Public health must come first," said Sandy Dudgeon, senior steward of The Jockey Club. "We were working on a plan...