2013 Grand National Oscar Time finished in fourth and Rare Bob was fifth. Seventeen runners completed the course. Sue Smith became only the third woman to train a Grand National winner, after Jenny Pitman (1983 and 1995) and Venetia Williams (2009). Smith said afterward: "I knew the ground was right for him and hoped everything else was. He stayed down the middle and had a bit of luck in running. He didn't have a lot of weight and that helped, too." Auroras Encore was jockey Ryan Mania's first ride in the National. He said after his victory: "There are no words to describe
2012 Grand National consultation with the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and World Horse Welfare, recommended the following amendments to the course: Other recommendations were made to improve the safety of race participants, including: Entries for the race had to be submitted by 31 January 2012. On 1 February, Aintree announced that 82 horses had been entered for consideration in the 2012 Grand National, including the previous year's winner Ballabriggs and 2009's outside winner Mon Mome. Ballabriggs was bidding to become the first horse to win back-to-back Nationals since Red Rum in 1973 and 1974, who incidentally was trained