1840 Grand National

1840 Grand National
Grand National
Location	Aintree
Date	5 March 1840
Winning horse	Jerry
SP	12/1
Jockey	Mr Bartholomew Bretherton
Trainer	George Dockeray
Owner	Henry Villebois
← 1839 1841 →

The 1840 Grand Liverpool Steeplechase was the second 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 Thursday 5 March 1840 and attracted a then smallest ever field of 13 runners.

Although recorded by the press at the time as the fifth 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.

Betting

3/1 favourite was the eleven-year-old mare The Nun, who had also been sent off as favourite the previous year, only to finish seventh after falling twice. Her rider, A Powell was taking his second ride in the race, having finished in eighth last year.
4/1 Lottery, the ten-year-old bay gelding and his partner Jem Mason who together had won the race the previous year on their debut.
6/1 Last year's runner up, the seven-year-old Seventy-four, partnered, as last year by Tom Olliver.
8/1 Arthur was a six-year-old giving Alan McDonough a record fourth ride in the race, including unofficial races, one of which he had won in 1838.
16/1 Jerry had been saddled to run the previous year but was a last minute withdrawal. This year the ten-year-old was partnered by local coach business owner Bartholomew Bretherton who had previously taken part in the unofficial 1836 race, finishing third.
100/5 Cruickshank was a debut ride for E Guy, one of seven riders taking part in their first National.
100/4 Valentine was giving a debut ride to his owner John Power who had wagered heavily on being the first to reach the wall at the halfway stage of the race.
30/1 The Augean, a seven-year-old ridden by Charles Christian, whose father Dick had finished second in the unofficial 1836 race.
30/1 Columbine, a six-year-old ridden by Mr Won
30/1 Hasty, ridden by Mr Rigg
30/1 The Sea, ridden by his owner Henry Beresford, 3rd Marquess of Waterford
30/1 Spolasco, ridden by W A Rose
30/1 Weathercock, an eight-year-old second ride in the race for last year's fourth placed jockey, P Barker ^[1]

The race

The course remained unchanged from the previous year with the runners starting from a position beyond the modern Melling Road. The competitors then negotiated four small gorse topped banks before reaching the newly named Becher's Brook. All thirteen runners cleared these banks without incident but at the brook Cruickshank stumbled on landing and was cannoned into by Weathercock with both falling. The former was remounted by his jockey, Guy, albeit with a severely bloodied nose while the latter's rider, Barker was carried unconscious to Seed's farmhouse nearby.

Valentine had established a good lead at this stage in his owner's bid to secure a bet that his mount would be first to complete a circuit of the course. Upon reaching the second brook beyond the Canal Turn, Valentine made to refuse but his momentum was such that the horse corkscrewed, almost backwards over the obstacle. His rider remained in the saddle and despite his rivals gaining much ground, the pairing continued intact to complete the circuit in the lead and secure the bet while behind him Hasty fell and was quickly remounted.

Last year's champion Lottery reached the stone wall in front of the stands in second place but clipped the top of the obstacle, falling amid a flurry of dismantled masonry. All three horses following immediately behind were caught in the melee and were brought down, the three being Columbine, favourite The Nun and Seventy-four. Powell remounted the favourite but was forced to pull up before setting off on the second circuit when she was found to be lame while Olliver was taken to the stands with a broken collar bone and concussion.

The pileup allowed Valentine to re-establish a lead of many lengths over the rest of the field but he was caught shortly before reaching Becher's for the second time by Jerry and Arthur with the remaining competitors too far behind to be able to issue a challenge. Arthur fell heavily at the brook, leaving Jerry to canter home over the remaining fences to win as he liked. Arthur was quickly remounted and although he caught Valentine before jumping the final hurdle he was unable to make up the ground on Jerry and finished second by four lengths with Valentine the same distance behind in third. The remaining runners had not reached the distance chair situated beside the wall fence by the time the third horse had passed the post, thus these runners were officially declared as non finishers. Those who did pass the post were, in order, Cruickshank, Hasty, The Sea and Spolasco. The last horse had fallen during the second circuit and was remounted while The Augean also fell at some point during the second circuit.

Despite winning in a very comfortable manner, and slowing to a canter a long way before the finish, Jerry still finished in a time of twelve minutes and thirty seconds, shattering the course record by a minute and a half.

Aftermath

Again the press were very critical of the race, especially noting the incident at the wall where many spectators had thought Tom Olliver had been killed by his fall, so bad was his state when being carried away to the stands. Furthermore it was later discovered that Barker had been left unattended in a barn near Seed's farm where none of the connections of his mount had made any enquiry as to his state. As a result the wall was replaced with a water jump in time for the next running.

Historical inaccuracies

Later historical accounts of the Grand National are notorious for carrying factual errors. The official history of the race written in the 1980s recorded Cruickshank as a non runner and The Sea as an official finisher in fourth place.

Finishing order

Position	Name	Rider	Age	Weight	Starting Price	Distance or Fate
Winner	Jerry	Bartholomew Bretherton	10	12-00	16/1
Second {remounted}	Arthur	Alan McDonough	6	12-00	8/1	Fell at Becher's 2nd time round
Third	Valentine	John Power		12-00	100/4
Fourth (remounted at least twice)	The Sea	Henry Beresford, 3rd Marquess of Waterford		12-00	30/1
Non finishers
	Cruickshank	E Guy		12-00	100/5	Passed the post fourth but may not have jumped the entire course
	Hasty	Mr Rigg		12-00	30/1	Passed the post fifth but may not have jumped the entire course
	Spolasco	W A Rose		12-00	30/1	Passed the post seventh but may not have jumped the entire course
	The Nun	A Powell		12-00	3/1 favourite	Fell at the wall
	Lottery	Jem Mason	10	12-00	4/1	Fell at the wall
	Seventy-Four	Tom Olliver	7	12-00	6/1	Fell at the wall
	Columbine	Mr Won	6	12-00	30/1	Fell at the wall
	The Augean	Charles Christian	7	12-00	30/1	Fell on the second circuit
	Weathercock	P Barker	8	12-00	30/1	Fell at Becher's on the first circuit

Sources

www.hometown.aol.co.uk/captainbeecher/1840JERRY.html
The Irish newsletter (various editions March 1840)
The Times (various editions March 1840)
A to Z of the Grand National (John Cottrell & Marcus Armytage - Highdown press, ISBN 978-1-905156-43-6)

References

↑ Prices, runners and riders as listed in Liverpool Mail newspaper dated 6 March 1840

Grand National

Races by year	1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012 2013 2014 2015 2016

Course	Aintree Racecourse Becher's Brook Canal Turn The Chair

Famous horses	Aldaniti Battleship Corbiere Crisp Devon Loch The Duke E.S.B. Foinavon Golden Miller L'Escargot Lord Gyllene Lottery Peter Simple Red Rum West Tip

Famous jockeys	Jack Anthony Martin Becher Tommy Carberry Bob Champion Richard Dunwoody Brian Fletcher Dick Francis Josh Gifford Bruce Hobbs Count Karl Kinsky Jem Mason Tony McCoy Tom Olliver Ernest Piggott Richard Pitman Ruby Walsh Fred Winter

Other people	Peter Bromley Ginger McCain Vincent O'Brien Michael O'Hehir Peter O'Sullevan Jenny Pitman Fred Rimell Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother Lord Oaksey Lord Sefton

Lists	List of Grand National winners List of Grand National first four placings List of equine fatalities in the Grand National

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