1841 Grand National

The 1841 Grand Liverpool Steeplechase was the third official annual running of a steeplechase, later to become known as the Grand National Steeplechase handicap horse race which took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool on 3 March 1841 and attracted a then smallest ever field of 11 runners.

Although recorded by the press at the time as the sixth running of the Grand Liverpool, which was renamed the Grand National in 1847, the first three runnings were poorly organised affairs.

The race was not run as a handicap chase and therefore all the runners were declared to carry 12 stone with the exception of the winner of the 1840 Cheltenham Steeplechase who had to carry 13 stone 4 lbs.

The Course

The runners would set off from a grass field near Seeds lane and jump a small first fence before turning slightly right to jump a further four fences down a line of wheat fields to the first brook, described only as being familiar to Captain Beecher. The runners then proceeded left over a fallow field to take the seventh jump into a grass field to turn sharp left at the eighth obstacle, later to be known as the Canal Turn. Three further flights followed along the Canalside that took the runners over a large grass enclosure before jumping into and then out of the Melling Lane to re-enter the racecourse at its far extreme, known as the training ground. Once back in front of the stands, the runners took a hurdle at the site of the distance judge before leaping an artificial brook, which had replaced the wall, being the fifteenth obstacle. The competitors would then cover the same course again, with the exception of the artificial brook, which was bypassed on the run-in.

Competitors & Betting

5/2 Lottery, the 1839 winner who also bore the 13 stone, 4 lb penalty weight for having won the 1840 Cheltenham chase and was ridden, as in 1839, by Jem Mason

4/1 Cigar, an eleven-year-old providing Allen McDonough with a record fifth ride in the race (including pre 1839 non official Nationals)

6/1 Peter Simple, a seven-year-old grey entire ridden by T Walker

12/1 Legacy, the mount of William McDonough

14/1 Charity, an eleven-year-old gelding who had failed to complete the course in 1839, a third ride for Horatio Powell

14/1 Seventy Four, the eight-year-old runner up in 1839, ridden this year by Whitworth

100/6 The Hawk, provided a debut ride for W Saunders

25/1 Goblin, a ten-year-old ridden by last year's winning jockey Bartholomew Bretherton

25/1 Oliver Twist, a six-year-old ridden by 1839 runner up, Tom Olliver

25/1 Revealer, a seven-year-old ridden by P Barker

25/1 Selim, a seven-year-old who bore no relation to the 1814 sire of the same name, was the mount of Captain G B Price

The race

The course was as it had been the previous year with the exception that the wall, situated in front of the stands, was replaced with an artificial water jump.

Reports of the conditions and betting on the race varied widely and depended greatly on which newspaper the reader chose to get their report from after the event with Charity and Seventy-Four both listed as pre race favourite in some publications, which also varied the state of the going with everything from good to heavy.