PLAN OF FAMOUS AINTREE COURSE

Sun (Auckland), Volume 1, Issue 4, 26 March 1927, Page 6

PLAN OF FAMOUS AINTREE COURSE

The Grand National Steeplechase, decided at Liverpool yesterday over the famous and trying course at Aintree, is the severest test in the world for a racehorse. Every year the field is a big one, but very few horses complete the course. For instance, it was not so very long ago that 32 started in this event, the distance of which is 4 miles 856yds., and only four finished, ancl two of these had previously fallen and were remounted to secure third and fourth moneys. After every race :here is the usual outcry about cruelty to the horses when it is announced that some of them have been killed when failing to negotiate the stiff obstacles, but it is not only the horses that suffer. The jockeys, many of them amateur horsemen whose great ambition it is to ride in the Grand National, are themselves sufferers through injuries. A perusal of the following plan of the Aintree course, with its accompanying description of the various fences to be negotiated (there are 30 of them) serves to convey in a mild way the severity of the task facing both horses and riders, and goes to show that our Great Northern Steeplechase at Ellerslie is quite a tame affair when compared with the Aintree event. The result of yesterday’s race, by the way, should be received in time to-day to appear on the late news page. Description of the Fences 1 and 17—Thorn fence (gorsed), 4ft 9in high, 2ft wide.

2 and 18—Thorn fence (gorsed), 4ft 9in high, 2ft 6in wide. 3 and 19—Thorn fence (gorsed), 4ft llin high, 2ft wide, with ditch on take-off side 6ft wide, 2ft deep, banked up to guard rail 2ft high in front of ditch. 4 and 20—Thorn fence (gorsed), 4ft llin high, 2ft wide. 5 and 21—Thorn fence (gorsed), 4ft lOin high, 2ft 3in wide. 6 and 22—" Beecher’s Brook," a thorn fence (gorsed), 4ft llin high, 3ft wide, ditch on far side 6ft 6in wide, 3ft 4in deep. 7 and 23—Thorn fence (gorsed), 4ft llin high, 2ft 6in wide. 8 and 24—'■The ."Canal Turn,” a thorn fence (gorsed), sft high, 2ft 6in wide, ditch on take-off side sft 9in wide, 2ft deep, banked up to guard rail 2ft high in front of ditch. 9 and 25—" Valentine’s Brook,” a thorn fence (gorsed), 4ft lOin high, 3ft 6in wide, a natural brook on far side 6ft 6in wide. 10 and 26—Thorn fence (gorsed), 4ft llin high, 2ft 9in wide. 11 and 27—Thorn fence (gorsed), 4ft lOin high, 3ft wide, ditch on take-off side 6ft wide, banked to guard i*ail 2ft high. 12 and 28—Thorn fence (gorsed), 4ft lOin high, 3ft wide, ditch on far side 7ft wide, 3ft deep. 13 and 29—Thorn fence (gorsed). 4ft 9in high, 2ft 3in wide. 14 and 30—Thorn fence (gorsed), 4ft Din high, 2ft 3in wide. 15— The “Open Ditch,” a thorn fence (gorsed), sft 2in high, 3ft 6in wide, ditch on take-off side 6ft wide, and banked to guard rail in front 2ft high. 16— The “Water Jump,” 16ft wide, with thorn fence (gorsed), 3ft high on takeoff side.