Which horse holds the course record for the Grand National?

The course record for the Grand National was set in 1990 and, even allowing for the fact that the Grand National distance was shortened slightly in 2013, when the start position was moved forward, as a safety measure, is unlikely to ever be broken. Starting with the 2013 renewal of the Grand National, Jockey Club Racecourses, which owns Aintree Racecourse, announced that the course would be routinely watered, to provide going that was never again faster than ‘good to soft’.

Since then, the fastest winning time in the National was the 8 minutes 56.8 seconds recorded, on good to soft going, by the 2015 winner Many Clouds. That was, in fact, just the second sub-nine-minute winning time in the history of the world famous steeplechase, but still nowhere near the course record set by Mr. Frisk 25 years previously. Ridden by Marcus Armytage – coincidentally the last amateur jockey to win the National – Mr. Frisk had the advantage of running in the last-ever renewal contested on ‘firm’ going and came home in a time of 8 minutes 47.8 seconds. Barring drastic changes, his name is written, indelibly, into the record books.