The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse, Aintree, Merseyside, England. First run in 1839, it is a handicap steeplechase over an official distance of about 4 miles and 2½ furlongs, with horses jumping 30 fences over two laps. It is the most valuable jump race in Europe, with a prize fund of £1 million in 2017. An event that is prominent in British culture, the race is popular amongst many people who do not normally watch or bet on horse racing at other times of the year.
The Jockey Club Gold Cup, established in 1919, is a thoroughbred flat race open to horses of either gender three-years-old and up. It has traditionally been the main event of the fall meeting at Belmont Park, just as the Belmont Stakes is of the spring meeting and the Travers Stakes is of the summer meeting at Saratoga. The past winners of the Gold Cup are a veritable who's who of award-winning Hall of Fame horses, including Easy Goer, Man o' War, Cigar, Skip Away, Curlin, Slew o' Gold, John Henry, Affirmed, Forego, Shuvee, Damascus, Buckpasser, Kelso, Sword Dancer, Nashua, Citation, Whirlaway and War Admiral. Despite the current $1,250,000 purse and Grade 1 status, the stature of the race has suffered somewhat in recent years thanks to the emergence of the Breeders' Cup Classic held not long afterward, as well as a change in distance to 1+1⁄4 miles in 1990, reducing its distinctiveness.
Gary Lynn Stevens is an American Thoroughbred horse racing jockey, actor, and sports analyst. He became a professional jockey in 1979 and rode his first of three Kentucky Derby winners in 1988. He had nine wins in Triple Crown races, winning the Preakness Stakes and Belmont Stakes three times each, as well as ten Breeders' Cup races. He was also a nine-time winner of the Santa Anita Derby. He entered the United States Racing Hall of Fame in 1997. Combining his U.S. and international wins, Stevens had over 5,000 race wins by 2005, and reached his 5,000th North American win on February 15, 2015.
Theodore Frederick Atkinson was a Canadian-born American thoroughbred horse racing jockey, inducted into the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1957.
Rupert "Ruby" Walsh is an Irish former jockey. He is the second child, and eldest son, of former champion amateur jockey Ted Walsh and his wife Helen. Widely regarded as one of the greatest National Hunt jockeys of all time, Walsh is the third most prolific winner in British and Irish jump racing history behind only Sir Anthony McCoy and Richard Johnson.
Frank Hayes was an Irish horse trainer and jockey who, on 4 June 1923, at Belmont Park racetrack in Elmont, New York, won a steeplechase despite suffering a fatal heart attack in the latter part of the race.
Zev (1920–1943) was an American thoroughbred horse racing Champion and National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame inductee.
Slew o' Gold was an American thoroughbred racehorse who was voted the 1983 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Three-Year-Old Male Horse and the 1984 Eclipse Award for Outstanding Older Male Horse.
Basil B. James was a two-time American National Champion jockey.
Clarence Joseph Kummer was a U.S. Racing Hall of Fame jockey who won four American Classic Races.
Parth was a British-trained Thoroughbred racehorse best known for winning the 1923 Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe.
David Erb was an American jockey and trainer in Thoroughbred horse racing. He started riding as a young farm boy and began his professional riding career in 1938, competing at tracks in his native Nebraska. He got his first win at Oaklawn Park Race Track in Hot Springs, Arkansas.
The Empire City Handicap was an American Thoroughbred horse race inaugurated on October 22, 1900, as part of the opening day racecard at Empire City Race Track in Yonkers, New York. Sometimes referred in newspaper reports as the Empire City Stakes, it was raced at the Empire City track through 1942 then the following year it moved to the Jamaica Race Course in Jamaica, Queens where it remained until its final running on November 7, 1953.
The Narragansett Special was an American Thoroughbred horse race run annually at Narragansett Park in Pawtucket, Rhode Island. At the time of its inaugural running in 1934, the Narragansett Special offered a purse of $32,500 added money making it the biggest race run at the track. Only Suffolk Downs' Massachusetts Handicap, which ran the next summer, had a bigger purse in New England. Both rich contests drew the best talent that the nation had to offer.
Andrew Mack Garner was an American jockey who won the 1934 Kentucky Derby as well as the 1929 and 1933 Belmont Stakes. He was inducted in the National Museum of Racing and Hall of Fame in 1969. Mack Garner made his professional racing debut on July 16, 1914, at a Butte, Montana racetrack.
Thomas Edward Durcan is a retired, two-time British Classic-winning Irish jockey. He was champion jockey in the United Arab Emirates on seven occasions and rode over 1,000 winners in Great Britain in career lasting from 1992 to 2017.
Tranquil was a British Thoroughbred racehorse and broodmare. She showed considerable promise as a two-year-old when she won one race and finished second in the Gimcrack Stakes. In the following season she was one of the best horses in Britain, scoring classic victories in the 1000 Guineas and St Leger Stakes as well as winning four other races including the Jockey Club Cup and Newmarket Oaks. She won once in 1924 before her racing career was ended by injury. She made no impact as a broodmare.
The 88th Belmont Stakes was an American Grade I stakes Thoroughbred horse race held at Belmont Park in Elmont, New York on June 11, 1949. From the fourteen starters, Capot won the race under a ride much praised in the media by future Hall of Fame jockey Ted Atkinson. While Capot had won the Preakness Stakes, there was no Triple Crown at stake as second-place finisher Ponder had won the Kentucky Derby.
Samuel Jesse Doggett was one of the leading American Thoroughbred horse racing jockeys of the 1890s and a founding director of the Horsemen's Protective Association who went on to train and own racehorses.
