Questions

How are steeplechase fences constructed?

admin December 10, 2024

The term ‘steeplechase’ was first recorded in the late eighteenth century and was derived from the fact that participants kept a course, over open countryside and natural obstacles, by sighting a church steeple as a finishing point. Nowadays, the term refers to a horse race run on a turf course furnished with fabricated obstacles – albeit that they are constructed, in part, with natural materials – which horses must negotiate.

Steeplechase fences are the higher, more rigid and less forgiving type of obstacle that horses encounter in National Hunt racing. With the exception of the optional water jump, which need only be a minimum of 3′ high – but is, as the name suggests, followed by an expanse of water at least 9′ wide – steeplechase fences must officially be at least 4’6″ high, measured from the take-off side. By way of comparison, the tallest fence on the Grand National course, The Chair, measures 5’2″ high.

Steeplechase fences are essentially of two types, known as plain fences and open ditches, although the construction of the upright portion of the fence is the same in both cases. Each fence is built on a base measuring between 6′ and 6’6″ deep, from the front of the take-off board – the white-painted board at the foot of the fence, intended to increase its visibility – and consists of a rigid frame, made of steel or wood.

Fence construction must be consistent throughout any one course, but the frame may be filled entirely with birch, natural or plastic, or birch and spruce or other material approved by the British Horseracing Authority (BHA). Either way, the density of the compacted material determines how forgiving the fence is if a horse makes a jumping error. As the name suggests, an open ditch is simply a plain fence with a ditch on the take-off side, thereby creating an obstacle with a significantly wider spread.

Since World War II, how many favourites have won the Grand National?

admin December 10, 2024

The first post-war Grand National was staged at Aintree on April 5, 1946 and, notwithstanding the cancellation of the Grand National Festival in 2020, due to the global COVID-19 pandemic, the celebrated steeplechase has been run over more or less the same course and distance ever since. Of course, in 1993 the Grand National was officially declared void after the majority of the jockeys failed to realise a second false start had been called and seven, led by the hapless John White on Esha Ness, completed the course.

However, at the time of writing, in 76 bona fide renewals since World War II, the Grand National has been won by the market leader, or joint market leader, on 11 occasions. The first post-war winning favourite, or joint-favourite, was Freebooter who, in 1950, survived a near-catastrophic blunder at The Chair to win by 15 lengths under 11st 11lb. In 1960, Merryman II was another easy winner but, in 1973, Red Rum was anything but, only reeling in his main market rival, Crisp, in the shadow of the post, having been 30 lengths behind the clear leader at Becher’s Brook on the second circuit. Grittar, ridden by 48-year-old amateur Dick Saunders, in 1982, Rough Quest, in 1996, and Earth Summit, in 1998, completed the sextet of winning favourites before the turn of the century.

More recently, Hedgehunter, a rare final-fence faller in 2004, set the record straight with a ready, 14-length win in 2005, Comply Or Die forged clear from the Elbow to win by 4 lengths in 2008 and Don’t Push It gave A.P. McCoy his first National winner, at the fifteenth attempt, in 2010. In 2019, Tiger Roll was sent off the shortest-priced winning favourite since Poethyln, exactly a century earlier and, in 2023, Corach Rambler became just the third National winner trained in Scotland, after Rubstic in 1979 and One For Arthur in 2017.