The Anatomy of a Grand National Winner

The Anatomy of a Grand National Winner
Discover what makes a Grand National champion, champion. Learn more about the anatomy of a winning horse, find exciting info & much more on horse racing!

Grand National happens to be one of the toughest competitions for any horse. This steeplechase handicap is revered as one of the best in the world. A prize fund of £1 million means that it often ends up attracting some of the best horses from around the globe. Success at the Grand National is so difficult that only one horse has been able to win the event on three or more occasions. This statistic looks even more daunting for prospective winners considering that the Grand National has been taking place since 1839. There are a few anatomical characteristics expected from a horse in order to emerge successful. Let's see them.

Stamina

The Aintree racecourse manages to separate the best from the mediocre by providing a daunting challenge of four miles and 514 yards for the horses. Furthermore, they also have to negotiate 30 fences across the two laps. These are some daunting figures and they require horses to possess incredible stamina to come out successful. Since 1970, only one horse has been able to win the event without previously winning a 3 miles event. Rule The World is the only horse, without previous experience of winning an event over three minutes in length, to have won the Grand National since 1970.

Weight

Since this is a handicap event, the horses are provided with a rating depending on the ability. Horses rated higher have a greater weight, and the expectation is that they will be able to finish in a much stronger way. However, it has not necessarily been the case. Weight has had a major impact in the events. Previously, this was not such a decisive factor when it comes to picking the Grand National winner. Yet, every punter may be seeing the weight as a key figure when it comes to the Grand National runners 2018. The handicap has reduced in recent times as the races have become of a much better standard. A key figure in terms of the changing stance with regard to weight can be seen from the number of runners that has come out successful while carrying over 11 stone. Since 1988, there have been only a handful of horses to have won the event while carrying over 11 stone.

Age

Throughout the history of Grand National, age has been a key figure when it comes to deciding on the potential of a horse on mfortune app. This has played such a major role in deciding winners so much so that no seven-year-old horse has been able to win the Grand National since 1940. Even in recent years, this has been the case with the event largely been dominated by 8 to 10 years old horses. Even in 2017, the event was won by One For Arthur, an eight-year-old. It is ideal to go with a horse above nine years of age. Since 2003, only two horses below nine years of age has been able to win the title.

Jumping

One of the easy requirements for a Grand National winner is to be at top jumper. Since there are 30 fences to cross over the two laps, this event can be quite taxing for a horse that does not jump well. There is a serious case of suffering a fall due to the large number of runners that take part. Apart from the sheer volume of the fences, one has to take into account the size of the fences. Grand National has bigger fences compared to other races. The sign of a horse being capable of winning the Grand National is not being able to fall or unseat the jockey more than twice in previous wins.

Experience

Such a competition with pedigree requires a lot of experience on all fronts. This even applies to the horses, as noises have not been able to dominate this event for the last few decades. In fact, Mr What is the last novice to have won the event back in 1958. The requirement of experience has especially scaled up in recent years. Since 2002, the event has been dominated by runners with experience of mixing it with 11 or more runners in previous races. These are some of the characteristics that make up a successful Grand National runner.