The 1961 Grand National was the 115th 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 that 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, on 25 March 1961.
The winner was 28/1 shot
Nicolaus Silver
Nicolaus Silver was a racehorse noted for winning the 1961 Grand National.
Nicolaus Silver, a grey horse was bred in Tipperary, Ireland, by James Heffernan. He was by Nicolaus, out of another grey, Rays of Montrose. After racing in Ireland, hi ...
who became the first
grey
Grey (more common in British English) or gray (more common in American English) is an intermediate color between black and white. It is a neutral or achromatic color, meaning literally that it is "without color", because it can be composed o ...
winner for 90 years. He was ridden by jockey Bobby Beasley and trained by
Fred Rimell
Thomas Frederic Rimell (24 June 1913 – 12 July 1981), better known as Fred Rimell, was a British champion National Hunt racing jockey and horse trainer. He was champion jockey three times and leading trainer five times. Rimell was the fi ...
. In second place was last year's winner Merryman II. O'Malley Point finished third, whilst Scottish Flight was fourth. The favourite, Jonjo, finished 7th.
Finishing order
Non-finishers
Media coverage
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 ...
presented Grand National
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
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and Peter Montague-Evans guiding them over the 30 fences.
had now moved over to BBC radio after featuring in the first televised National the year before.