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1954 Grand National
The 1954 Grand National was the 108th annual renewal of the Grand National steeplechase that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 10 April 1954. The race was won by ten-year-old gelding Royal Tan, an 8/1 shot trained by Vincent O'Brien. O'Brien had also trained the previous year's winner, Early Mist, and would secure a third consecutive win the following year with Quare Times. Royal Tan was ridden by jockey Bryan Marshall, who also won his second consecutive Grand National. Tudor Line was second and the 15/2 favourite Irish Lizard finished third. Only 29 horses ran in the race, the fewest since 1935 when 27 ran. The 1954 running saw four equine fatalities during the race; this remains the only Grand National renewal to have yielded four fatalities. Dominick's Bar dropped dead jumping the second fence; Paris New York incurred a cervical fracture at the fourth. Legal Joy, who finished second two years previously, broke a leg at the 13th and was euthanised, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Grand National
The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Liverpool, 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.''British Racing and Racecourses'' () by Marion Rose Halpenny – Page 167 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 course over which the race is run features much larger fences than those found on conventional National Hunt tracks. Many of these fences, particularly Becher's Brook, The Chair and the Canal Turn, have become famous in their own right and, combined with the distance of the event, create what h ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pound (mass)
The pound or pound-mass is a unit of mass used in British imperial and United States customary systems of measurement. Various definitions have been used; the most common today is the international avoirdupois pound, which is legally defined as exactly , and which is divided into 16 avoirdupois ounces. The international standard symbol for the avoirdupois pound is lb; an alternative symbol is lbm (for most pound definitions), # ( chiefly in the U.S.), and or ″̶ (specifically for the apothecaries' pound). The unit is descended from the Roman (hence the abbreviation "lb"). The English word ''pound'' is cognate with, among others, German , Dutch , and Swedish . These units are historic and are no longer used (replaced by the metric system). Usage of the unqualified term ''pound'' reflects the historical conflation of mass and weight. This accounts for the modern distinguishing terms ''pound-mass'' and '' pound-force''. Etymology The word 'pound' and its cognates ultim ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1954 In English Sport
Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head office of IBM. * January 10 – BOAC Flight 781, a de Havilland Comet jet plane, disintegrates in mid-air due to metal fatigue, and crashes in the Mediterranean near Elba; all 35 people on board are killed. * January 12 – 1954 Blons avalanches, Avalanches in Austria kill more than 200. * January 15 – Mau Mau rebellion, Mau Mau leader Waruhiu Itote is captured in Kenya. * January 17 – In Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia, Milovan Đilas, one of the leading members of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, is relieved of his duties. * January 20 – The US-based National Negro Network is established, with 46 m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1954 In Horse Racing
Events January * January 1 – The Soviet Union ceases to demand war reparations from West Germany. * January 3 – The Italian broadcaster RAI officially begins transmitting. * January 7 – Georgetown-IBM experiment: The first public demonstration of a machine translation system is held in New York, at the head office of IBM. * January 10 – BOAC Flight 781, a de Havilland Comet jet plane, disintegrates in mid-air due to metal fatigue, and crashes in the Mediterranean near Elba; all 35 people on board are killed. * January 12 – 1954 Blons avalanches, Avalanches in Austria kill more than 200. * January 15 – Mau Mau rebellion, Mau Mau leader Waruhiu Itote is captured in Kenya. * January 17 – In Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Yugoslavia, Milovan Đilas, one of the leading members of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, is relieved of his duties. * January 20 – The US-based National Negro Network is established, with 46 m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Pat Taaffe
Patrick Taaffe (9 March 1930, Dublin - 7 July 1992, Dublin) was an Irish National Hunt jockey who is best remembered as the jockey of Arkle. The pair dominated National Hunt racing in the mid-sixties, winning the Irish Grand National, the King George VI Chase, two Hennessy Gold Cups, three Cheltenham Gold Cups and the Whitbread Cup. Taaffe was born into a racing family. His father, Tom Taaffe, was a trainer who saddled the winner of the 1958 Grand National, Mr. What. A brother, Tos Taaffe, would become a leading jumps jockey. Taaffe started riding at an early age and won his first point-to-point in 1946 while still at school. In 1950, by this time a professional jockey, he joined the yard of trainer Tom Dreaper, where he remained as stable jockey until his retirement in 1970. Taaffe secured the first of two Grand National wins in 1955, riding the Vincent O'Brien trained Quare Times. The second was in 1970, when he rode Gay Trip, trained by Fred Rimell. There were also six vi ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick Francis
Richard Stanley Francis (31 October 1920 – 14 February 2010) was a British steeplechase jockey and crime writer whose novels centre on horse racing in England. After wartime service in the RAF, Francis became a full-time jump-jockey, winning over 350 races and becoming champion jockey of the British National Hunt. He came to further prominence in 1956 as jockey to Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother, riding her horse Devon Loch which fell when close to winning the Grand National. Francis retired from the turf and became a journalist and novelist. Many of his novels deal with crime in the horse-racing world, with some of the criminals being outwardly respectable figures. The stories are narrated by the main character, often a jockey, but sometimes a trainer, an owner, a bookie, or someone in a different profession, peripherally linked to racing. This person always faces great obstacles, often including physical injury. More than forty of these novels became international best-s ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
David Dick (jockey)
David Victor Dick (8 March 1924 – 15 February 2001) was a British jockey who competed at the Grand National from 1951 to 1965, winning the race in 1956 on E.S.B. He was the only jockey ever to win both races of the Lincoln-Grand National Spring Double and he holds the record, nine times, for the number of clear rounds on a notoriously difficult Aintree course. (The Aintree Clear Rounds Award, given for any jockey completing more than five clear rounds, was not instituted until 1986.) Dick was born in Ashampstead, Berkshire, the son of Glasgow-born jocky and racehorse trainer David Purvis Dick (1896-1989) and his wife Alice Isabel Ivall. He died in Reading, aged 76.''England & Wales, Death Index: 1984-2005'' In 1969, Dick married Caroline Lockhart, with whom he had one son and one daughter, the Olympic bronze medalist, Daisy Dick Katherine Mary "Daisy" Dick (born 29 March 1972, in Oxford) is a British three-day eventing rider. With her horse Spring Along, she won the bronze m ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tim Brookshaw
Tim Brookshaw (25 March 1929 - 8 November 1981) was a National Hunt jockey who was champion jockey in 1958/1959. Stanley James Brookshaw, always known as Tim, was born into a Shropshire farming family and started his career as a jockey with Cheshire trainer George Owen. He rode his first winner at Woore Racecourse in 1948. He was champion jockey in the 1958/1959 season, with 83 winners. In the 1959 Grand National he came second on Wyndbergh, having broken a stirrup after Becher's Brook on the second circuit and completed the course riding without stirrups.John Oaksey 2003 ''Mince Pie for Starters'' His 550 winners included Pappageno's Cottage in the 1963 Scottish Grand National. In December 1963 Brookshaw sustained injuries that were to end his career as a jockey when Lucky Dora ran out at the fifth hurdle in a race at Aintree. The horse was fatally injured and Brookshaw was left partially paralysed. A fund was set up by John Oaksey to support Brookshaw and fellow jockey Paddy Fa ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Stone (unit)
The stone or stone weight (abbreviation: st.) is an English and imperial unit of mass equal to 14 pounds (6.35 kg). The stone continues in customary use in the United Kingdom for body weight. England and other Germanic-speaking countries of northern Europe formerly used various standardised "stones" for trade, with their values ranging from about 5 to 40 local pounds (roughly 3 to 15 kg) depending on the location and objects weighed. With the advent of metrication, Europe's various "stones" were superseded by or adapted to the kilogram from the mid-19th century on. Antiquity The name "stone" derives from the use of stones for weights, a practice that dates back into antiquity. The Biblical law against the carrying of "diverse weights, a large and a small" is more literally translated as "you shall not carry a stone and a stone (), a large and a small". There was no standardised "stone" in the ancient Jewish world, but in Roman times stone weights were c ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Thompson (jockey)
Arthur Patrick Thompson (1916–1988) was an Irish National Hunt racing jockey, during the 1930s, 1940s and 1950s notable for riding the winner of the Grand National twice. Firstly with Sheila's Cottage in 1948 and then with Teal in 1952 Thompson was born in Carlow , Ireland in 1916. During World War II, he joined the Northumberland Fusiliers and became a "Desert Rat," serving in the Middle East and North Africa. Unfortunately, he was later captured and spent three years as a POW in Germany.. Following his retirement from racing in 1956, Thompson became a trainer, continuing to make a significant contribution to the sport. He remained active in horse racing until May 1988 when he died in Wexford Wexford () is the county town of County Wexford, Ireland. Wexford lies on the south side of Wexford Harbour, the estuary of the River Slaney near the southeastern corner of the island of Ireland. The town is linked to Dublin by the M11/N11 .... References {{DEFAULTSORT:Tho ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael Scudamore
Michael Scudamore (17 July 1932 – 7 July 2014) was an English National Hunt racing jockey in the 1950s and 1960s. He rode in 16 consecutive Grand Nationals, with one win on Oxo (horse), Oxo in 1959. He also rode Linwell, the winner of the 1957 Gold Cup. His riding career ended in 1966, due to serious injuries from a fall on a chance ride on Snakestone at Wolverhampton Racecourse, Wolverhampton where he sustained multiple fractures, a collapsed lung and over 90% vision loss in one eye. Scudamore then continued as a trainer. He was the father of Peter Scudamore and the grandfather of Tom Scudamore. References {{DEFAULTSORT:Scudamore, Michael 1932 births 2014 deaths English jockeys British racehorse trainers ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Starting Price
In horse racing, the starting price (SP) is the odds prevailing on a particular horse in the on-course fixed-odds betting market at the time a race begins. The method by which SPs are set for each runner varies in different countries but is generally by consensus of an appointed panel on the basis of their observations of the fluctuation in prices at the racetrack. This is done as follows: For each horse the odds offered by the bookmakers are ordered into a list from longest to shortest. This list is then divided into halves and the SP is the shortest odds available in the half containing the longest odds. Thus the SP or a longer price will have been offered by at least half the bookmakers in the sample. ''Note'': This method is slightly different from the method of calculating the median. The principal function of a starting price is to determine returns on those winning bets where fixed odds have not been taken at the time the bet was struck. Typically, on the day of t ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
