Fact File: Aintree Racecourse – home of the Grand National

Updated: 13/01/2025

Aintree Racecourse is situated just outside Liverpool, in the north-west of England.

It is most famous for staging the Grand National, the world’s richest and most famous steeplechase.

Aintree is owned and run by The Jockey Club, who own 13 other racecourses in the UK.

The racecourse comprises two tracks; the Grand National course and the Mildmay course.

The Mildmay course uses conventional birch fences and hurdles.

Five races are held on the Grand National course each year; The Becher Chase, The Grand Sefton, The Foxhunters’, The Topham and The Grand National.

Steeplechasing was first held at Aintree in 1836, though it is believed that flat racing took place on the course prior to this.

During the three-day Grand National meeting in April, Aintree hosts 11 Grade 1 races, though the National itself is a Grade 3.

The site at Aintree is also used for motor racing, with the British Grand Prix held there five times during the 1950s and ‘60s.

Spanish aristocrat Alfonso de Portago twice rode in the National and also drove in the 1957 British Grand Prix.

He remains the only person to have competed at Aintree as a jockey and driver.

Three-time Grand National winner Red Rum, who died in 1995, aged 30, is buried beside the winning post at Aintree.

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