Grand National lease in 1848. One century later, the Topham family bought the course outright. Later in the century the race was the setting of a thriller by the popular novelist Henry Hawley Smart. For three years during the First World War, while Aintree Racecourse was taken over by the War Office, an alternative race was run at Gatwick Racecourse, a disused course on land now occupied by Gatwick Airport. The first of these races, in 1916, was called the Racecourse Association Steeplechase, and in 1917 and 1918 the race was called the War National Steeplechase. The races at Gatwick are not
Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course Hollywood Casino became the first casino in Pennsylvania to offer sports betting. Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course Hollywood Casino at Penn National Race Course is a thoroughbred horse racing track and casino in Grantville, Pennsylvania, east of Harrisburg. It is owned by Gaming and Leisure Properties and operated by Penn National Gaming. The track opened on August 30, 1972. It consists of a dirt course and a 7-furlong turf course. It is unusual among United States thoroughbred tracks in offering racing 52 weeks a year. It features the $200,000 Pennsylvania Governor's Cup Handicap for horses three-years-old and up