Grand National in front of the stands. The majority of the race therefore took place not on the actual Aintree Racecourse but instead in the adjoining countryside. That countryside was incorporated into the modern course but commentators still often refer to it as "the country". There are 16 fences on the National Course topped with spruce from the Lake District. The cores of 12 fences were rebuilt in 2012 and they are now made of a flexible plastic material which is more forgiving compared to the traditional wooden core fences. They are still topped with at least of spruce for the horses
2003 Grand National 2003 Grand National The 2003 Grand National (known as the Martell Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 156th official renewal of the world-famous Grand National steeplechase that took place at Aintree at 3:45pm BST, on 5 April 2003. The ten-year-old 16/1 shot Monty's Pass, ridden by Barry Geraghty and trained by Jimmy Mangan in Cork, Ireland, won the race by 12 lengths from the 2001 Welsh National winner Supreme Glory (40/1) in a time of 9 minutes 21.7 seconds. The field was limited to a maximum of 40 competitors, and 14 completed the 4 mile 4 furlong course. Shotgun