Tag: grand national

When was a British Classic first screened on terrestrial television?

The first British Classic to be screened on terrestrial television was the Derby at Epsom. Indeed, the 1931 renewal of the ‘Blue Riband’ event, staged on Wednesday, June 3, was the subject of the first television outside broadcast or, in other words, the first television programme broadcast live, on location, anywhere in the world. The Baird Television Company, under the auspices of John Logie Baird, the Scottish engineer who became known as ‘The Father of Television’, provided the pictures, which were transmitted by the British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) via the medium-wave radio transmitter at Brookmans Park, Hertfordshire. BBC Radio had first broadcast the Derby, along with the Grand National, in 1927, but the BBC Television Service was not officially launched until November, 1936.

In any event, the ‘King’s Birthday Derby’, run on the sixty-sixth birthday of King George V, was won by the 7/2 favourite, Cameronian, owned by J. Arthur Dewar, trained by Fred Darling and ridden by Freddie Fox. Television viewers were treated to a thrilling finish, with the 2,000 Guineas winner edging out well-fancied rivals Orpern and Sandwich by three-quarters of a length and the same. The following year, still some years before the advent of public television broadcasts, the Derby was shown, live, on closed-circuit television at the now demolished Metropole Kinema, in Victoria Street, central London.

Has any horse won the Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National in the same season?

The Cheltenham Gold Cup and the Grand National are the premier steeplechases in the British calendar and, as such, are highly sought after by jockeys, owners and trainers alike. The Cheltenham Gold Cup, part of the prestigious Cheltenham Festival ,was inaugurated, as a steeplechase, in 1924, 85 years after the first ‘official’ running of the Grand National at Aintree in 1839. However, in the time the races have co-existed – that is, the better part of a century – just one horse has won both in the same season.

That horse was, of course, was the legendary Golden Miller, owned by Dorothy Paget, trained by Basil Briscoe and ridden to both victories by Gerry Wilson, in 1934. Fresh from a bloodless, 6-length win in the Cheltenham Gold Cup – the third of his five consecutive victories in what has since become known as the ‘Blue Riband’ of steeplechasing – Golden Miller won the Grand National by 5 lengths, under 12st 2lb, 17 days later. In so doing, he set a record time, 9 minutes and 20.04 seconds, which stood until beaten by the illustrious Red Rum in 1973.

Both races continue to enthrall  racing crowds year on year, and are steeped in history. Fans of the Cheltenham Festival not only get to enjoy the Gold Cup, but also other prestigious goup one races such as the Queen Mother Champion Chase, Champion Hurdle and the  Stayers’ Hurdle. A Cheltenham win is top on the list for most trainers, jockeys and owner. Al Boum Photo won the Cheltenham Gold Cup in both 2019 and 2020. Who will win in 2021?

Will Tiger Roll run in the 2021 Grand National?

At the time of writing, the 2021 Grand National is still over twelve months away so, frankly, whether or not Tiger Roll will attempt to become the first horse to record a hat-trick in the Aintree marathon in 2021 is anybody’s guess. Of course, Tiger Roll was ante-post favourite, at 8/1 or thereabouts, for the 2020 Grand National prior to its cancellation due to the coronavirus pandemic, but can be backed at 20/1 for the 2021 renewal.

Nevertheless, trainer Gordon Elliott has already said that there is ‘every chance’ of Tiger Roll running in the Grand National in 2021. He is, after all, still only a ten-year-old – which means that he will be the same age as recent National winners Pineau De Re, Auroras Encore and Neptune Collonges by the time next April rolls around – and, granted that he has been restricted to just eleven starts in the last three National Hunt seasons, has hardly been overraced.

Of course, owner Michael O’Leary announced, shortly after winning the Grand National for a second time with Tiger Roll, and the third time in all, in 2019, that he would be winding down his Gigginstown House Stud operation over the next four or five years. Even so, Tiger Roll has time on his side so, who knows, he may yet attempt to achieve racing immortality.

What is the virtual Grand National?

As the name suggests, the virtual Grand National is an animated version of the Grand National developed by Inspired Entertainment, Inc. The virtual Grand National was televised in 2017, 2018 and 2019 as a precursor to the National ‘proper’ but, in 2020, assumed greater significance after the actual race was cancelled due to the coronavirus pandemic; at the time of writing, the virtual race is due to be broadcast on ITV at 17.00 on Saturday, April 4.

The virtual Grand National apparently employs the latest computer-generated imagery (CGI) technology, and special sets of rules, a.k.a. algorithms, to determine the result, but is due to play out in real-time, with commentary from Stewart Machin. So far, the virtual Grand National results have been close to the actual Grand National results but, granted that the proof of the pudding is not in the eating, so to speak, the popularity of the virtual race in its own right remains to be seen.

To anyone desperate enough to have watched or, worse still, to have bet on, virtual horse racing, the virtual Grand National offers little or nothing new. In the absence of final declarations for the National, choosing the forty runners ‘most likely’ to participate may prove problematic. In any case, rendering data as an animation, or ‘cartoon’, based on complex algorithms has been done often enough before, with less-than-stellar results.

Update: The simulated 2020 Grand National race was won by Welsh trained 18-1 shot Potters Corner (with Tiger Roll fading into fourth place) and drew a peak television audience of 4.8m. Christian Williams, trainer of the real Potters Corner was said to be clearing on the victory with her family at home.

“There was great excitement in the house,” said Williams. “The children were on their toy horses and it was great watching the race and seeing our horse come through to win.”

The race raised a total of £2.6 million for NHS Charities Together.

 

 

1 … 7 8 9 10 11 … 16