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
1994 Grand National consecutive year as part of its regular Saturday afternoon sports programme "Grandstand". The entire five-hour-long programme was presented from the course as a Grand National "Grandstand" special, presented by Des Lynam, and featured interviews with the connections of the runners and features on some of the competitors as well as looking back at the history of the race and interviews with celebrities and racegoers on the course. Three other races on the Aintree card were broadcast on the programme before Lynam handed over to Richard Pitman and Peter Scudamore who presented the build-up to the big race itself, which included