- Fence 1&17 – 4ft 6in high, 2ft 9in wide
- Fence 2&18 – 4ft 17in high, 3ft 6in wide
- Fence 3&19 – Open ditch
- Fence 4&20 – 5ft high, 10ft 6in wide (including 7ft ditch on take-off side)
- Fence 5&21 – 5ft high, 3ft 6in wide
- Fence 6&22, Becher’s Brook – 4ft 10in high, 7ft 6in wide
- Fence 7&23, Foinavon – 4ft 6in high, 3ft wide
- Fence 8&24, Canal Turn – 5ft high, 7ft wide
- Fence 9&25, Valentine’s Brook – 5ft high, 7ft wide
- Fence 10&26 – 5ft high, 3ft wide
- Fence 11&27 – 4ft 10in high, 9ft wide (including 6ft ditch on landing side)
- Fence 12&28 – 5ft high, 8ft 6in wide (including 5ft 6in on landing side)
- Fence 13&29 – 4ft 7in high, 3ft wide
- Fence 14&30 – 4ft 6in high, 3ft wide
- Fence 15, The Chair – 5ft 2in high, 9ft wide (including 6ft ditch on take-off side)
- Fence 16, Water Jump – 2ft 6in high
The Grand National’s most famous fences
The Aintree fences are not as perilous as they once were. However, they are still the most notorious obstacles in the business.
The Chair (Fence 15): The Chair is the highest fence on the course, now standing at five foot two inches.
Becher’s Brook (Fence 6&22): The sixth and 22nd fence in the race may not be the biggest, but its difficulty comes from the fact the landing side is 10 inches lower than the take-off side. Named after Captain Martin Becher, a jockey who fell at this stage in the first running of the race in 1839 and hid in the brook to avoid injury.
Valentine’s Brook (Fence 9&25): Named after a horse that allegedly jumped it backwards in 1840. More likely, the horse spun around in mid-air to create the optical illusion that its hind legs landed first.
Foinavon (Fence 7&23): One of the smaller fences is named after the 100/1 shot who avoided a disastrous pile-up here in 1967 and went on to win.
Canal Turn (Fence 8&24): As the name suggests, horses must take a sharp turn to the left after jumping this five-foot obstacle. Another Aintree myth is that horses used who refused to turn ended up in the Liverpool and Leeds canal.
Grand National prize money
The total prize fund for the Grand National is £1 million. In 2023, prize money was awarded to the first ten horses past the post, as follows.
- £516,000
- £211,100
- £105,500
- £52,700
- £26,500
- £13,200
- £6,800
- £3,600
- £2,000
- £1,000
How does the handicapping system work?
The idea of the handicapping process is that less-fancied horses can compete with the best chasers. To achieve this, the top-rated horses are asked to carry extra weight. Exactly how much weight is determined by a handicapper, appointed by the British Horseracing Authority.
The least a horse is permitted to carry (including the jockey) is 10st 2lb. The top-weighted horse in the race will carry 11st 12lb, with every other handicap weight worked out from that weight based upon each horse’s rating. Last year’s winner, Corach Rambler, was carrying just 10st 5lb.
In 2015 Many Clouds won carrying 11st 9oz, the heaviest weight carried by a winner in recent history. The last horse to win carrying the top weight was Red Rum in 1973, when the top handicap was set at 12st.
What are the changes to this year’s Grand National?
Significant changes have been made to the Grand National for 2024. The alterations have been made after animal rights protesters ambushed the 2023 event, causing a delay of 15 minutes. However, the Jockey Club insists that the changes did not come as a direct response to those protests.
The most significant changes are as follows:
- The field has been reduced from 40 horses to a maximum of 34. Evidence shows a correlation between the size of a field and the risk of horses falling.
- The first fence has been brought forward, towards the start line, by 60 yards in order to reduce the speed at which the horses reach it.
- The start will now be a standing start at the tape, rather than the traditional rolling start. This change is also designed to reduce the speed that horses arrive at the first obstacle.
- Each horse must have an official rating of at least 130 (rather than 125) and will be scrutinised for jumping errors before being permitted to enter.
- Fence 11 has been reduced in height by two inches and will be have the drop on the landing side reduced.
- Horses will no longer be led onto the course by a handler before the race, instead being released to canter in front of the grandstands.
- The start time has been moved from 5.15pm to 4pm.
‘Colin’ eyes National glory after injury hell
Caoilin Quinn, the conditional jockey attached to Gary Moore’s yard, will get his first taste of the Grand National on mud-loving Nassalam after recovering from breaking his collarbone six weeks ago at Taunton.
The 22-year-old finally gets back to race riding after the fall at Plumpton which prevented him from riding Nassalam in his prep race for the Gold Cup.
Quinn, from Downpatrick in Northern Ireland and nicknamed ‘Colin’ by Jamie Moore, may be one of the least experienced and successful jockeys taking part in Saturday’s race – indeed in a normal handicap he would still claim 3lbs – but three of his 63 winners have been in long distance ‘Nationals’ – the Surrey, Sussex and Welsh. It was in the latter that he shone on Moore’s Nassalam when he came home almost alone 34 lengths clear of his nearest rival.
The jockey has other things going for him apart from his rapport with the horse after it rained heavily again in Liverpool on Monday, with the National course expected to be described as heavy; it cannot be too wet for Nassalam.
Northern Irish jockeys have a good record in the race with, from a relatively small pool, Richard Dunwoody (twice), Tony Dobbin and AP McCoy all successful in recent years.
The only possible reason the horse is not vying for favouritism given the ground conditions is his weight. He has been allotted 2lbs more than last year’s winner Corach Rambler which seems a bit of a travesty.
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