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
1923 Grand National 1923 Grand National The 1923 Grand National was the 82nd renewal of the Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool on 23 March 1923. The race was won by Sergeant Murphy, a 13-year-old 100/6 shot ridden by Captain Tuppy Bennet and trained by George Blackwell for its owner Stephen Sanford, who collected the £5,000 prize for the winner. The 1921 winner Shaun Spadah finished in second place, with Conjuror II in third and Punt Gun fourth. Twenty-eight horses ran and all returned safely to the stables. In attendance at Aintree were King George V, the