2011 Grand National 2011 Grand National The 2011 Grand National (known as the John Smith's Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 164th renewal of the world-famous Grand National horse race held at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England. The showpiece steeplechase began at 4:15 pm BST on 9 April 2011, the final day of the three-day annual meeting. The maximum permitted field of forty runners competed for prize money totalling a record £950,000, making it the highest valued National Hunt race in the United Kingdom. Nineteen of the forty participants completed the 4½-mile course; of the 21 who did not, two suffered fatal
John Sanford (1851) would become a major figure in the industry. He raced a number of top horses and in 1916 won the Kentucky Derby with his colt, George Smith. In 1923 he became the first American to win the most prestigious steeplechase race in the world when his horse Sergeant Murphy won the English Grand National. In 1923, Sanford won the American Grand National with Best Play. John Sanford was member of the New York Racing Commission and the Sanford Stakes, run annually at Saratoga Race Course, is named in his family's honor. In 1927, John Sanford changed the Hurricana Stock Farm