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
1950 Grand National jockey, and losing significant ground. The race was won by Freebooter, the 10/1 joint-favourite ridden by Irish jockey Jimmy Power and trained by Bobby Renton for owner Lurline Brotherton. In second place was Wot No Sun, Acthon Major finished third, and Rowland Roy fourth. Forty-nine horses ran and all returned safely to the stables. 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.