British English Holidays Grand National

hi everyone I’m Gina the grand national
is one of the highlights of the sporting

calendar in the UK is an annual
steeplechase and the most prestigious

horse race in the country in this lesson
you’re going to learn about why the

Grand National is so important the Grand
National is held every year but what was

special and unique about the race in
1993 will show you the answer at the end

of this video the Grand National is a
horse race held annually at Aintree

racecourse
in Liverpool it has been running since

1839 the course is four miles long and
has 30 fences making it one of the

toughest horse races in the world and
far tougher the more conventional horses

some of the fencers such as Beecher’s
Brook are almost as famous as the race

itself the Grand National is the one day
when even those that don’t gamble may

place a bet it is popular amongst the
general public and it’s a busiest day of

the year for bookies the Grand National
is the most valuable horse race in

Europe and in 2013 it had a prize fund
of just under a million pounds it is

watched by an estimated 600 million
people across 140 countries the race is

however not without controversy due to
the harsh demands of the course and the

fencers the horse mortality rate for the
Grand National is far higher than for

other races every year there are many
protests about the alleged cruelty of

the race and the race organisers have
responded to the criticism by modifying

fences and moving the start line

some of the winners of the race have
become famous in their own right in the

1970s a horse called Red Rum won the
race three times and his death in 1990

made the front page of the newspapers
and now I’ll give you the answer to the

earlier quiz the Grand National is held
every year but what was special and

unique about race in 1993 it was unique
because it was the only time that the

race has been declared null and void the
starting tape became tangled around the

jockeys on two separate occasions and a
false start was declared some jockeys

that were able to start the race thought
the officials trying to stop them were

protesters and so carried on the race
was considered void and bets refunded

how was this lesson did you learn
something interesting do you know of any

other prestigious horse races
leave us a comment at English past

101.com
and we’ll see you in the next lesson

you