Aintree Racecourse fear into the most professional of jockeys. All fences bar the water jump are covered with spruce, unlike at any other course in British National Hunt racing. Four other races take place over the National fences. These are the Topham Chase (formerly known as the John Hughes Trophy Chase) and the Fox Hunters' Chase at the Grand National meeting, and the Grand Sefton Handicap Chase and Becher Chase in the December meeting. Within the large National course there is also the smaller Mildmay course containing hurdles and fences. These fences are made of traditional National Hunt material. The National and
1950 Grand National 1950 Grand National The 1950 Grand National was the 104th renewal of the Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 25 March 1950. Nearly 500,000 people packed into Aintree for the first royal National since the Second World War. In attendance were King George VI, Queen Elizabeth, their daughter Princess Elizabeth, and a number of other members of the royal family. Royal interest centred on Monaveen, the co-third-favourite who was jointly owned by the Queen and Princess Elizabeth. Despite leading the field, Monaveen made a bad mistake at The Chair, nearly unseating his