Category: Grand National

At a height of just 2’6″, the smallest fence on the Grand National Course is the Water Jump, which is the sixteenth and final fence on the first circuit of the Grand National. Along with the preceding fence, The Chair – which, at a height of 5’2″, is the largest fence on the Grand National Course – the Water Jump is jumped just once during the Grand National. On the second circuit, after jumping the final plain fence, runners are diverted onto the infamously long, 494-yard run-in, bypassing both The Chair and the Water Jump.

Nevertheless, the positioning of the Water Jump, directly in front of the grandstands, provides a thrilling spectacle for racegoers before the National runners head back ‘out into the country’ for the second circuit. The fact that the Water Jump immediately follows The Chair occasionally catches a horse unawares, but the main characteristic of the obstacle is an expanse of water, 8’10” wide and 6″ deep, immediately beyond the fence itself. The ‘spread’ of the Water Jump is 12’6″ so, while the fences presents few problems, jumping-wise, it is not uncommon for horses to drop their hind legs in the water.

The Water Jump became a permanent fixture on the Grand National Course in 1847. Back in the early, pioneering days of the Grand National, its position was variously occupied by a stone wall, an artificial brook and an artificial brush hurdle.

On April 10, 2021, 44 years after Charlotte Budd (née Brew) made sporting history by becoming the first female jockey to ride in the Grand National, Rachael Blackmore did so again by becoming the first female jockey to win the world famous steeplechase. Blackmore expertly guided the 8-year-old Minella Times, trained by Henry de Bromhead, to a 6½-length victory over stable companion Balko Des Flos, thereby shattering another glass ceiling in the sporting world.

In the interim, several female jockeys, including Rosemary Henderson, Carrie Ford and Bryony Frost – who all finished fifth, in 1994, 2005 and 2018, respectively – have successfully completed the Grand National Course. However, before Rachael Blackmore, who also rode Valseur Lido into tenth position in 2019, the female jockey who had achieved the best placing in the Grand National was another Irishwoman, the now-retired Katie Walsh.

Katie Walsh is, of course, the son of trainer Ted Walsh and the brother of Rupert ‘Ruby’ Walsh, who teamed up to win the Grand National with Papillon in 2000. However, she carved her own slice of Grand National history when partnering Seabass, trained by her father, into third place behind Neptune Collonges and Sunnyhillboy in the 2012 Grand National. All told, Katie Walsh rode in the Grand National half a dozen times between 2012 and 2018 and, with the exception of Ballycasey, from whom she was unseated after a mistake at the second-last fence, completed the course of each of her mounts.

The National Course at Aintree consists of 16 unique, spruce-topped fences, 14 of which are jumped twice during the Grand National itself. However, during the rest of the year, four other races are run over the National fences. Two of them, the Topham Chase and the Foxhunters’ Open Hunters’ Chase – which, under normal circumstances, is restricted to amateur riders – are run over 2 miles 5 furlongs during the Grand National Festival in early April each year. In both cases, the races start before what is the second-last fence on the final circuit of the Grand National, such that 18 fences are jumped in all.

Similar comments apply to the Grand Sefton Chase, which is staged in late November or early December. However, the fourth and final race of the year over the National fences, the Becher Chase, is run over 3 miles and 2 furlongs in December. By necessity, the Becher Chase starts after Valentine’s Brook and involves jumping 21 fences in all. As in all the races run over the National fences, including the Grand National, runners bypass The Chair and the Water Jump on the final circuit and head, instead, up the famously long, 494-yard run-in.

Nicky Henderson was assistant trainer to Fred Winter – who is the only person to win the Grand National twice as both jockey and trainer – for four years before taking out a training licence in his own right in 1978. Nowadays based at Seven Barrows in Lambourn, Berkshire, Henderson has been

British Champion National Hunt Trainer six times, most recently in 2019/20.

Henderson has an excellent record at the Cheltenham Festival, where he was won the Leading Trainer Award nine times, including shared titles in 1987, 1992 and 1993. Indeed, his career total of 70 winners makes him the second most successful trainer in the history of the March showpiece, behind only Willie Mullins.

However, for all his success elsewhere, Henderson has yet to win the Grand National. His first ever runner, Zongalero, ridden by Bob Davies, finished second, beaten 1½ lengths, behind Rubstic in 1979, but in the intervening years Henderson has saddled a further 42 runners, none of whom has fared any better. The Tsarevitch, ridden by John White, was a 5-length runner-up to Maori Venture in 1987 but, otherwise, two minor placings – for Classified in 1986 and Brown Windsor in 1990 – is all Henderson has to show for his efforts. Interestingly, the Master of Seven Barrows is also yet to win the Irish, Scottish or Welsh Grand National.