Grand National

What is the Grand National?

The Grand National is the most prestigious horse racing event in the United Kingdom. It is held annually, usually in April, at Aintee Racecourse in Liverpool. The race is capped at 40 horses who run over a distance of 4 miles and 4 furlongs, with 30 obstacles to be jumped before reaching the finish line.

The festival spread across three days at Aintree Racecourse and welcomed over 150,000 racegoers over this period.

Given that this is the UK’s most prestigious horse racing event, the prize for the winning horse is staggering. This year’s winning horse and owner took home £1,000,000 in prize money.

History

The first recognised Grand National took place in 1839. This race saw the slowest ever time recorded for a horse to finish the race (14 minutes 53 seconds). The horse to win the first ever Grand National was named ‘Lottery’.

Although the Grand National is usually held at Aintree, in 1916, the race was renamed to the ‘Racecourse Association Steeplechase’ and was held at Gatwick Racecourse. Similarly, in 1917 and 1918, the race was renamed as the ‘War National’ and was also held at Gatwick Racecourse during World War 1. Gatwick Racecourse is now defunct and is presently the site of London Gatwick Airport.

The 2025 Grand National Winner

34 horses ran at this year’s Grand National. This year’s favourite was an Irish trained horse called ‘I Am Maximus’ who was extremely close to justifying his favouritism and defending his 2024 Grand National win.

The winner of the Grand National this year was ‘Nick Rockett’, also an Irish trained horse, who defied his lengthy 33/1 odds.

Sweepstake Results

This year in the Greens Worcester Office, we took part in a sweepstake for the 2025 Grand National with each of us selecting 3 horses at random.

The winners of this year’s sweepstake were:
• Ed Malkin – Nick Rockett – £20
• Jennifer Matthews – I Am Maximus – £10
• Tania Hings – Grangeclare West – £5