A national standstill

This year’s Grand National isn’t the first to be called off– bomb scares and wars have played their part, too. Hannah Lemieux finds out about the others that didn’t go to plan

- Hannah Lemieux

ON the first Saturday of April this year, the Grand National’s traditional date, the gates of Aintree Racecourse remained closed. No horses graced the famous turf, primed for the biggest race of their lives, no jockeys dazzled in brightly coloured silks and no excited racegoers bustled into the historic Liverpool venue.

It was the first time in 75 years that the Aintree grandstands have fallen silent on the day of the world’s greatest steeplechase. Not since the end of World War II has the Grand National not taken place, but this time it was due to a pandemic that has halted the globe.

The race began in 1839 and even continued through World War I. During these years, three Nationals took place at Gatwick Racecourse, an old course that has since become part of Gatwick Airport. The National was then officially suspended from 1941 until 1945 during World War II.

In the Grand National’s long history there have only been a handful of times the spectacle has not quite gone to plan. Aside from the loss of the 2020 renewal, the most fresh in people’s mind is the 1997 Grand National, when a suspected IRA bomb threat meant that the National was postponed by two days.

Two warnings with recognised IRA code words were received just before the jockeys mounted. The threat led to the largest ever evacuation of a sporting event as 60,000 people were removed from Aintree, while 100 horses had to be left unattended for four hours.

Journalist, TV presenter and former jockey Brough Scott was writing for the Sunday Telegraph, shadowing legendary commentator Peter O’Sullevan for the day, when the commotion kicked off. Due to the threat, all mobile phone signals had been cut, so Brough and his Telegraph colleague Marcus Armytage were frantically looking for a home phone so they could file their copy.