1848 Grand National

The 1848 Grand National Steeplechase was the tenth official annual running of a handicap steeplechase horse race at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool on Wednesday, 1 March. It attracted a then record, field of 29 competitors for a prize valued at £1,015 to the winner.^[1]

1848 Grand National

Grand National
Location	Aintree
Date	1 March 1848
Winning horse	Chandler
Starting price	12/1
Jockey	Capt. Josey Little
Trainer	Tom Eskrett
Owner	Josey Little
Conditions	Heavy
← 1847 1849 →

The race was won by Lieutenant Josey Little on Captain William Peel's Chandler trained by Tom Eskrett. Lieutenant Little wore Captain Peel's colours of white silks with a black cap. The horse won in a time of 11 minutes and 21 seconds, forty-two seconds slower than the course record set the previous year. With the proceeds of the race Lieutenant Little was able to purchase his promotion to the rank of captain in the 1st King's Dragoon Guards.^[2] Tom Olliver rode in the race for a record tenth time, finishing second on The Curate. The race was marred by the fatal falls of three competitors at the same fence in the latter stages of the second circuit, taking the total number of fatalities in the history of the race to five.

The Course

The construction of the Liverpool to Bury Railway cut into the course immediately after Becher's Brook, which necessitated that the runners turn slightly to the left after the jump. This line to modern day Foinavon and The Canal Turn has remained the same since.

The posts and rails at both Brooks were removed and many of the hedges appeared to have been cut lower than in previous years. This caused much criticism from spectators. ^[3]

The first circuit consisted of a series of small banks and hedges that separated each field the horses would cross until reaching Becher's Brook before turning slightly left towards the Canal Turn. The runners then jumped the second Brook, which would later become known as Valentine's and then jump the fields towards a table top jump near Anchor Bridge. The runners would then turn towards the racecourse proper before jumping the fence by the distance chair in front of the stands and then the water jump.

The first circuit was completed by jumping into and out of a sunken lane and then passing the start point to run the circuit a second time. On making the home turn, the runners would jump two hurdles before bypassing the Chair and Water jump on the run in to the winning post.

Rather than noting the hedges as numbered obstacles, the course was marked out as jumping from one field to the next, therefore the actual number of fences or obstacles to be jumped isn't certain. From contemporary reports, Becher's Brook was most likely the fifth fence, Canal Turn, eighth, Valentine's Brook ninth, The Table Top jump, which was a bank similar to those still found at Punchestown and was near the Anchor Bridge crossing and was likely the twelfth fence. The Chair was fence thirteenth, the Water fourteenth and the first circuit completed by jumping into and out of a sunken lane, probably where the modern Melling Road is as the fifteenth fence.

On the second circuit, Becher's [20], Canal Turn [23], Valentine's [24], Table Top [27] and then two hurdles on the run in, making a total of twenty-nine obstacles.

Finishing order

No official returns for the Grand National exist prior to 1865. The return below is that published by the reporter of The Times newspaper the day after the race.

position	name	rider	age	weight	starting price	distance or fate	Colours
Winner	Chandler	Lieut Josey Little	12	11-12	12/1	1/2 a length	White with black sleeves and cap
Second	The Curate	Tom Olliver		11-02	6/1 favourite [4]	1 & 1/2 lengths	Blue with red cap
Third	British Yeoman	Charles Bevill		10-08 {11-02}	30/1	1 & 1/2 lengths	White with black cap
Fourth	Standard Guard	William Taylor		10-12	100/6	Fell 3rd fence, remounted - 11 lengths
Fifth	Sir Arthur	J.G. Murphy		11-01	15/1	last confirmed finisher	Green with black cap
Sixth*	Variety	Horatio Powell		10-08 [10-12]	25/1	Distanced	Orange with black cap
Seventh*	Naworth	William Archer		9-08	Not quoted	Distanced	Straw and light blue stripes with black cap
Eighth	Wolverhampton	Bartholomew Bretherton		11-12	Not quoted	Fell & Remounted {2nd Valentines Brook} Distanced	Blue with white cap
Ninth	Father Matthew	John Lamplugh		11-06	25/1	Distanced	White with black cap
Tenth	Sophia	William Ford		11-00	Not quoted	Fell and Remounted {1st Valentines} Distanced	Purple with red sleeves and black cap
Eleventh	Fortune-teller	Neptune Stagg		10-10	33/1	Fell 2nd circuit & remounted, Distanced
Twelfth	Aristides	J. Rowlands		11-01	Not quoted	Fell & remounted 1st Valentines, Distanced	Blue with red cap
Thirteenth	Switcher	Lord Strathmore		11-05	Not quoted	Distanced	Straw and light blue stripes with black cap
Non Finishers
Run in	Jerry	W. Sanders	14	11-07	Not quoted	Pulled up	Red with white sash and black cap
2nd last hurdle	Saucepan	Tom Abbott		11-11	Not quoted	Refused at the sunken lane, went on	Red with black cap
2nd Table Top	Blue Pill	W Allensby		10-03		Broke down fatally	Red with black cap
2nd Canal Side	Counsellor	John Frisby		10-12	25/1	Broke down fatally	Green with red sleeves and cap
Fence after 2nd Valentines	Mathew	Denny Wynne	10	11-10	8/1	Fell	Purple with straw sleeves and black cap
Fence after 2nd Valentines	The Irish Bard	D. Freeze		11-00	20/1	Fell
2nd Valentines	Sparta	T Turner		10-00	Not quoted	Fell
2nd Canal Turn	Picton	N Burke		10-13	Not quoted	Pulled up
2nd Bechers	The Gipsy Queen	W. Whitfield		10-06	Not quoted	Pulled up, ran out or refused
2nd Bechers	Eagle	Johnny Broome		10-13	Not quoted	Unseated when tailed off	Red with black cap
4th fence 2nd circuit	The Sailor	William Holman	6	10-08	Not quoted	Fell fatally	Sky blue with white cap
Sunken Lane	Ashberry Lass	J. Collis	6	11-03	Not quoted	Hampered and pulled up
Sunken lane	Khondooz	H Rackley		11-00	25/1	Fell & remounted 4th fence, Brought down	Red and white hoops with white cap
End of 1st circuit	Half Breed Pioneer	J Neale		10-13	Not quoted	Broke down & pulled up	Cerise with white cap
1st Canal side	Cheroot	W. McGee		11-02	Not quoted	Fell when tailed off	Sky with black cap
3rd fence	Mr O'Higgin's Pioneer	Captain William Peel	8	11-06	25/1	Hampered & fell	Black with red sleeves and cap

^[5]

The Race

The weather in the days leading up to the race was rainy, making travelling to the course from Liverpool on the wet muddy roads treacherous. This saw a reduction on the crowd size with notably fewer ladies in the more expensive areas of the stands.

The weather also led to the withdrawal of eight runners from the published race card, though still left a record field of twenty-nine starters. The press focussed heavily on the participation of famed bare knuckle Boxer, Johnny Broome, as he had laid two heavy bets, one that he would be within four fields of the leader when they jumped the Chair and secondly that Blue Pill would win ^[6]

The runners were allowed away at the second attempt, although many spectators cried that the start was if anything worse than the first, which had been recalled. Almost half the field were left up to 100 yards adrift and cause the runners to be widely strung out from the start.

The combination of the false start and the large field resulted in a lot of incidents of runners colliding during the race. Lord Strathmore suffered a foot injury early in the race when another runner smashed into him, effectively rendering him unable to assist his mount.

However, the biggest incident of the race came at the Sunken Lane where the leaders, Switcher and Saucepan both refused and badly hampered many of the runners from the mid to rear division.

The finish developed into a duel between Chandler and The Curate.

Aftermath

The epic battle between Little and Tom Olliver earned the Captain the eternal respect of his professional rival, the two become best friends. Little rode for Olliver to win the 1853 race and years later, recalling his victory when they rode against eachother he stated. "I hope I may have as straight a ride to heaven! If my cove had been an Archbishop instead of a Curate, The Chandler's shop would have been equally safe from burglars." ^[7]

Lord Strathmore returned to the unsaddling encloser with half his boot missing and required medical attention for his injured foot while Turner, rider of Sparta also required medical attention after a heavy fall at Becher's second time. Johnny Broome was also carried from the course after falling from Eagle, but was also praised by the press for making the effort to get to the Waterloo Hotel that evening to honour a £500 bet.

There was also some criticism in the press over the severity of the race after several horses broke down, two of them, Blue Pill and Counsellor so badly they had to be destroyed, while a third horse, Sailor broke a leg in his fall, resulting in more equine fatalities in this National than all the previous runnings combined.