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
Red Rum Handicap Chase Red Rum Handicap Chase The Red Rum Handicap Chase is a Grade 3 National Hunt steeplechase in Great Britain which is open to horses aged five years or older. It is run on the Mildmay course at Aintree over a distance of about 2 miles , and during its running there are twelve fences to be jumped. It is a handicap race, and it is scheduled to take place each year in early April. The event is named in memory of Red Rum, a three-time winner of the Grand National in the 1970s. It was formerly known as the Aintree