1967 Grand National began running in the wrong direction, back the way they had come. The undistinguished Foinavon, whose owner had such little faith in him that he had travelled to Worcester on race day instead, had been lagging so far behind that his jockey, John Buckingham, had sufficient time to steer his mount wide of the mêlée and find a small gap in the fence to jump cleanly on the outside. Being on the only horse over the 23rd at the first attempt, Buckingham found himself with a surprise lead of 30 lengths. Although 17 jockeys remounted to give chase and some
The Chair (Aintree Racecourse) claims fallers, not just in the Grand National but other races held over the course. Perhaps The Chair's most notorious pile up occurred during the 1979 Grand National, won by Rubstic. Two loose horses veered across the main body of the field and contributed to the falls or refusals of nine horses, including Kintai who had to be euthanised as a result of injuries sustained when he was brought down. For the following year's race, in which Ben Nevis returned and won having been one of the victims in the prior year's pile-up, channels were installed around the fence so