The 1979 Grand National (officially known as the Colt Car Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 133rd renewal of the

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 ...

horse race Horse racing is an equestrian performance sport, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its basic p ...

, which took place at

Aintree Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside, England. Historically in Lancashire, it lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, north-east of Liverpool city centre, in North West England. It i ...

near

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

, on 31 March 1979. The race was won by

Rubstic Rubstic (1969-1995) was a British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who competed in National Hunt racing. Rubstic was owned by the former Scottish international rugby player John Douglas. He became the first Scottish-trained horse to win the Grand ...

who was the first ever Scottish-trained winner.

Finishing order

Non-finishers

Aftermath Unfortunately, the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Alverton broke his neck at Becher's on the second circuit and was euthanized. The Grand National: the history of the Aintree spectacular, by Stewart Peters & Bernard Parkin,

Media coverage and aftermath

David Coleman David Robert Coleman OBE (26 April 1926 – 21 December 2013) was a British sports commentator and television presenter who worked for the BBC for 46 years. He covered eleven Summer Olympic Games from 1960 to 2000 and six FIFA World Cups from ...

once again presented a special edition of

Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap a ...

on the

BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC #REDIRECT BBC Here i going to introduce about the best teacher of my life b BALAJI sir. He is the precious gift that I got befor 2yrs . How has helped and thought all the concept and made my success in the 10th board ex ...

. The favourite, Alverton, died after falling at

Becher's Brook Becher's Brook ( ) is a fence jumped during the Grand National, a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England. It is jumped twice during the race, as the and fence, as well as on four other occasions du ...

on the second circuit (fence 22) when travelling strongly. Just over two weeks earlier he had won the

Cheltenham Gold Cup The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse in England, over a distance of about 3 miles 2½ furlongs ( ...

and was going for a famous double only achieved by,

Golden Miller Golden Miller (1927–1957) was a Thoroughbred racehorse who is the most successful Cheltenham Gold Cup horse ever, winning the race in five consecutive years between 1932 and 1936. He also is the only horse to win both of the United Kingdom's p ...

, in 1934. Kintai was another fatality who was brought down at fence 15 and was later euthanized.

References

1979

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 ...

20th century in Merseyside

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 ...

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