Spruce weaving baskets and for sewing together pieces of birch bark for canoes. See also Kiidk'yaas for an unusual golden Sitka Spruce sacred to the Haida people. Spruces are popular ornamental trees in horticulture, admired for their evergreen, symmetrical narrow-conic growth habit. For the same reason, some (particularly "Picea abies" and "P. omorika") are also extensively used as Christmas trees, with artificial Christmas trees often being produced in their likenesses. Spruce branches are also used at Aintree racecourse, Liverpool, to build several of the fences on the Grand National course. It is also used to make sculptures. The closely related species
1998 Grand National Payne and former Hereford United footballer Ricky George. Thirty-seven runners took part and six completed the course without mishap, but three horses were fatally injured during the race. The main race was seen by the smallest Grand National attendance at Aintree since 1985, with a crowd of just 46,679, over 11,000 less than two years prior. It came a year after the 1997 Grand National had to be postponed due to a bomb threat. Earth Summit was made the 7/1 favourite, backed down from 10/1 on the morning of the race, after heavy rain on raceday made the ground officially