2017 Grand National 2017 Grand National The 2017 Grand National (officially known as the 2017 Randox Health Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 170th official running of the Grand National horse race at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England. The showpiece steeplechase over a distance of took place on 8 April 2017, the final day of a three-day meeting. A maximum field of 40 runners competed for a share of a prize fund of £1 million. Randox Health is the new sponsor of the main race and the festival itself for the next five years. It was broadcast live on television by ITV
Grand National are jumped twice. Horses completing the race cover a distance of , the longest of any National Hunt race in Britain. As part of a review of safety following the 2012 running of the event, from 2013 to 2015 the start was moved forward away from the crowds and grandstands, reducing the race distance by from the historical . The course has one of the longest run-ins from the final fence of any steeplechase, at . The Grand National was designed as a cross-country steeplechase when it was first officially run in 1839. The runners started at a lane on