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As the best-known steeplechase in the world, with an estimated worldwide audience of 500 million, the Grand National requires little or no introduction. However, it is worth noting that, in recent years, the annual Aintree showpiece has undergone a raft of safety-related changes, not only to the Grand National Course, but also to the race conditions. Among other eligibility criteria, Grand National entries must now be at least seven years old, while jockeys must have ridden at least 15 winners under the Rules of Racing, including at least 10 in steeplechases.

Consequently, unless the British Horseracing Authority (BHA) has a major change of heart at some point in the future, it is not beyond the realms of possibility that the records for the youngest horse and the youngest jockey to win the Grand National could never be broken. As it stands, the record for the youngest horse to win is held, jointly, by five five-year-olds, namely Alcibiade (1865), Regal (1876), Austerlitz (1877), Empress (1880) and Lutteur III (1909). For the record, the last six-year-old to win the National was Ally Sloper in 1915 and the last seven-year-old to win was Bogskar in 1940.

The record for the youngest jockey to win the Grand National is still held by Bruce Robertson Hobbs, who was 17 years, 2 months and 27 days old when, on March 25, 1938, he partnered Battleship, trained by his father, Reg, to victory in a driving finish. Hobbs owed his victory, in part, to a push on the backside from fellow jockey Fred Rimmell, which prevented him from being unseated at the seventh fence, now known as ‘Foinavon’. Battleship, for his part, was derisorily dismissed by the ‘Sporting Life’ of the day because of his diminuitive size, but he did, indeed, become ‘the smallest winner in history’.

The short answer is yes, it is. In fact, Frederick Thomas ‘Fred’ Winter won the Grand National twice as a trainer and twice as a jockey. Born in Andover, Hampshire, on September 20, 1926, Winter was a force majeure in British National Hunt throughout the fifties, sixties, seventies and eighties. In August 1987, he suffered a second stroke, which left him paralysed down one side and unable to speak, therby effectively ending his training career.

 

Nevertheless, aside from his Grand National victories, Winter also won the Cheltenham Gold Cup three times, twice as a jockey, with Saffron Tartan (1961) and Mandarin (1962), and once as a trainer, with Midnight Court (1978). He also won the Champion Hurdle seven times, three times as a jockey, with Clair Soleil (1955), Fare Time (1959) and Eboneezer (1961), and four times as a trainer, with Bula (1971 and 1972), Lanzarote (1974) and Celtic Shot (1988). He remains the only person to win all three prestigious races in both capacities.

 

At the time of his retirement from the saddle, in April 1964, Winter had ridden a then-record 923 winners and won the National Hunt Jockeys’ Championship four times, in 1952/53 and three seasons running between 1955/56 and 1957/58. Indeed, he was reigning Champion Jockey when he won the Grand National for the first time on Sundew in 1957 and followed up with Kilmore in 1962.

 

As a trainer, Winter occupied the historic Upland Stables in Upper Lambourn, Berkshire for the whole of his career. Between 1970/71 and 1984/85, he won the National Hunt Trainers’ Championship at total of eight times, but was fortunate enough to have won the Aintree Grand National at the first, and second, time of asking. In 1965, he saddled American import Jay Trump to a narrow victory in the celebrated steeplechase and, in 1966, repeated the dose with Anglo, who beat the luckless Freddie – who had also finished second the previous year – by 20 lengths.

 

 

 

 

 

The Melling Chase is a Grade 1 steeplechase run over 2 miles and 4 furlongs on the Mildmay Course at Aintree in early April. Open to horses aged five years and upwards, the race is currently sponsored by leading American stockbroker Marsh & McLennan and, hence, known as the Marsh Chase for sponsorship purposes. The officially registered title, though, comes from the nearby village of Melling in Sefton, Merseyside. The Melling Chase is currently scheduled as the fourth race on the second day of the three-day Grand National Festival, a.k.a. Ladies’ Day.

The Melling Chase was inaugurated, as a Grade 1 contest, in 1991 and has maintained that status throughout its lifetime. Indeed, the field often features horses that contested the Queen Mother Champion Chase or the Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival and the roll of honour includes the likes of Viking Flagship, Moscow Flyer, Master Minded, Sprinter Sacre and Politologue. Paul Nicholls, trainer of Master Minded and Politologue, and Nicky Henderson, trainer of Sprinter Sacre, have both saddled three winners apiece and are, jointly, the leading handlers in the history of the Melling Chase.

A total of half a dozen horses have won the Melling Chase twice, but the most recent to them, Fakir D’oudairies, who won back-to-back renewals in 2021 and 2022, may be in a position to attempt an unprecedented hat-trick in 2023. Joseph O’Brien’s Kapgarde gelding will still only be an 8-year-old by the time 3.25pm on Friday, April 8 rolls around, so it will be interesting to see how his season develops. Of course, top-class two-mile steeplechasers, such as Energumene, Shiskin and Edwardstone, are always possibilities while, from the ‘intermediate’ division, leading Ryanair Chase fancies Allaho and Galopin Des Champs are other possibilities.