Grand National first jump, suddenly veered across the leading group at the 23rd, causing them to either stop, refuse or unseat their riders. Racing journalist Lord Oaksey described the resulting pile-up by saying that Popham Down had "cut down the leaders like a row of thistles". Some horses even started running in the wrong direction, back the way they had come. Foinavon, whose owner had such little faith in him that he had travelled to Worcester that day instead, had been lagging some 100 yards behind the leading pack, giving his jockey, John Buckingham, time to steer his mount wide of the
1983 Grand National 1983 Grand National The 1983 Grand National (Known as the 1983 Sun Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 137th renewal of the world-famous Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 9 April 1983. The race was won by Corbiere, the first Grand National winner to have been trained by a female trainer in Jenny Pitman. His jockey was Ben de Haan. The favourite of the 41-strong field was last year's winner Grittar, at odds of 7/1. Going over Valentine's, the 23rd fence, Corbiere held a four-length advantage over his nearest challenger, Greasepaint.