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