There is still a day in April when a race in north-west England halts our separation for a few hours at least, and the horse is briefly reinstated in our national consciousness
In his recent book Farewell to the Horse: the Final Century of our Relationship, the German writer Ulrich Raulff charts what he sees as “the exodus of the horse from human history”. The “separation of man and horse”, Raulff says, “is not only a done deal, it is also a finished process”, and on 364 days of the year, it is hard to argue. There is still a day in April, though, when a horse race in the north-west of England halts the exodus for a few hours at least, and the horse is briefly reinstated in our national consciousness.
When the Grand National was founded in the middle of the 19th century, there were 300,000 horses in London alone, to provide transport and heavy labour for a city of three million. The horse was a constant thread in the fabric of daily life for city-dwellers and country folk alike, keeping the country working, eating and moving, so when a Liverpool hotelier called William Lynn decided to stage an event that would pull in a crowd – and hopefully shift a few rooms – a horse race was a natural choice.
Related: Grand National 2018: a horse-by-horse betting guide
Related: Grand National’s trio of female jockeys focus on victory, not history
Aintree: 1.45 Ah Littleluck (nb), 2.25 On The Blind Side, 3.00 Shantou Rock, 3.40 Paper Lantern, 4.20 Wholestone, 5.15 Total Recall (nap), 6.20 High Expectations.
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