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
1998 Grand National Payne and former Hereford United footballer Ricky George. Thirty-seven runners took part and six completed the course without mishap, but three horses were fatally injured during the race. The main race was seen by the smallest Grand National attendance at Aintree since 1985, with a crowd of just 46,679, over 11,000 less than two years prior. It came a year after the 1997 Grand National had to be postponed due to a bomb threat. Earth Summit was made the 7/1 favourite, backed down from 10/1 on the morning of the race, after heavy rain on raceday made the ground officially