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It was Queen Anne who first saw the potential for a racecourse at Ascot, which in those days was called East Cote. Whilst out riding in 1711, she came upon an area of open heath, not far from Windsor Castle, that looked an ideal place for “horses to gallop at full stretch.” The first race [...]

A comprehensive history of the Grand National from its official beginning in the 1800′s. From paintings to photo finishes and radio commentary to internet broadcasting. 1839 The Grand National was run at Aintree for the first time on Tuesday, February 26 and a horse named Lottery took the honours. Captain Martin Becher was unseated from [...]

Beltran de Osorio y Diez de Rivera, the “Iron” Duke of Albuquerque (1919-1994), was a Spanish aristocrat obsessed with horse-racing. After receiving a film of the Grand National as a gift for his eighth birthday, the Corinthian Duke set his sight on England’s greatest equestrian prize: “I said then that I would win that race [...]

It was 35 years ago that Red Rum gained the first of his three Grand National victories, earning him pride of place in racing’s record books. Bred to be a sprinter, Red Rum won the world’s best-known chase in 1973, 1974 and 1977 as well as finishing second on his other two starts to become [...]

1956 was the year that the Queen Mother’s favourite, Devon Loch, tried to jump a phantom fence and landed on his belly. This left the way clear for ESB. Afterwards, The Queen Mother famously said “That’s racing”. Watch this video from 06:15 for the bizarre footage of the event from British Pathe. Dick Francis said [...]

In 1993 we saw “the National that never was” as the world’s most famous steeple chase was declared void after false starting twice, and one totally armless flagman… The race was declared void after the horses false started twice, and, on the second occasion, most of the runners continued without having seen the officials flagging [...]

My paternal Grandad retired from coal mining two weeks before the strikes began. The government punished him and others by withholding pensions for former miners for 18 months before a journalist threatened to put them on the national front pages. A colleague in Newcastle once recalled to me how her miner husband and their children [...]