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
1850 Grand National the order below, omitting Peter Simple and Columbine however none of the known contemporary news reports support this. The official records for Aintree racecourse state that the winner completed the course in a time of 9 minutes 57 seconds, making this the first sub ten minute Grand National, however none of the contemporary newspapers reports of the time support this information with the few that did record the time stating that it was won in a time of 10 minutes 20 seconds. 1850 Grand National The 1850 Grand National was, at the time, the 15th annual running of a handicap