|
1956 Grand National
The 1956 Grand National was the 110th renewal of the Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree near Liverpool, England, on 24 March 1956. It is probably best remembered for Devon Loch's sudden and inexplicable fall on the final straight, just 40 yards from a certain victory. The incident is almost always replayed during television build-up coverage on Grand National day. Owned by Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and ridden by Dick Francis, the well-fancied Devon Loch held a five-length lead over his nearest challenger, E.S.B., on the run-in to the finishing post, when he suddenly half-jumped into the air and landed in a bellyflop on his stomach, allowing E.S.B. to overtake and win. Although Francis tried to cajole the horse, it was unable to continue. Finishing order Non-finishers Media Coverage and Aftermath Aintree maintained a refusal to allow the race to be broadcast either live or delayed by any Television company, the BBC having submitted a request eve ... [...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] |
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] |
1956 In English Sport
Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are killed for trespassing by the Huaorani people of Ecuador, shortly after making contact with them. * January 16 – Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser vows to reconquer Palestine. * January 25– 26 – Finnish troops reoccupy Porkkala, after Soviet troops vacate its military base. Civilians can return February 4. * January 26 – The 1956 Winter Olympics open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. February * February 11 – British Espionage, spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean (spy), Donald Maclean resurface in the Soviet Union, after being missing for 5 years. * February 14–February 25, 25 – The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is held in Moscow. * February 16 – The 1956 World Figure Skating Championships ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1956 In Horse Racing
Events January * January 1 – The Anglo-Egyptian Sudan, Anglo-Egyptian Condominium ends in Sudan. * January 8 – Operation Auca: Five U.S. evangelical Christian Missionary, missionaries, Nate Saint, Roger Youderian, Ed McCully, Jim Elliot and Pete Fleming, are killed for trespassing by the Huaorani people of Ecuador, shortly after making contact with them. * January 16 – Egyptian leader Gamal Abdel Nasser vows to reconquer Palestine (region), Palestine. * January 25–January 26, 26 – Finnish troops reoccupy Porkkala, after Soviet Union, Soviet troops vacate its military base. Civilians can return February 4. * January 26 – The 1956 Winter Olympics open in Cortina d'Ampezzo, Italy. February * February 11 – British Espionage, spies Guy Burgess and Donald Maclean (spy), Donald Maclean resurface in the Soviet Union, after being missing for 5 years. * February 14–February 25, 25 – The 20th Congress of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union is held in Mosc ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
1901 Grand National
The 1901 Grand National was the 63rd renewal of the Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree near Liverpool, England, on 29 March 1901. The race was run in a howling snowstorm and was won by the 9/1 chance, Grudon. Leading Contenders Grudon was among the leading contenders on the day but with the weather conditions being what they were, most of the trainers and jockeys knew that the race would be reduced to little more than a lottery. Trainer Bernard Bletsoe hit on the idea to pack Grudon's hooves with butter in the hope that this would prevent snow from clogging in them. It is not recorded if any of the other trainers followed this example but it worked as Grudon, a horse who was not rated that highly by his rider, Arthur Nightingall set off without any difficulty while most of the other competitors struggled. Legend has it that Nightingall became so confident that he hacked around most of the second circuit alongside Algy Anthony on his struggling mount Covert Hack ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Peter O'Sullevan
Sir Peter O'Sullevan (3 March 1918 – 29 July 2015) was an Irish-British horse racing commentator for the BBC, and a correspondent for the Press Association, the ''Daily Express'', and ''Today''. He was the BBC's leading horse racing commentator from 1947 to 1997, during which time he described some of the greatest moments in the history of the Grand National. Early life The son of Colonel John Joseph O'Sullevan , resident magistrate at Killarney, and Vera (''née'' Henry), Peter O'Sullevan was born in Newcastle, County Down before returning as an infant to his parents' home at Kenmare, County Kerry; he was brought up in Surrey, England. He was educated at Hawtreys, Charterhouse, and later at Collège Alpin International Beau Soleil in Switzerland. Career O'Sullevan was involved, in the late 1940s, in some of the earliest television commentaries on any sport, and made many radio commentaries in his earlier years (including the Grand National before it was televised for ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Michael O'Hehir
Michael James Hehir (also known as Michael O'Hehir and ga, Mícheál Ó hEithir; 2 June 1920 – 24 November 1996) was an Irish hurling, football and horse racing commentator and journalist. Between 1938 and 1985 his enthusiasm and memorable turn of phrase endeared him to many. He is still regarded as the original 'voice of Gaelic games'. Early life O'Hehir was born in Glasnevin, Dublin to parents who had moved from Clare. His father, Jim O'Hehir, was active in Gaelic games, having trained his native county to win the 1914 All-Ireland title in hurling. He subsequently trained the Leitrim football team that secured the Connacht title in 1927 and he also served as an official with the Dublin Junior Board. O'Hehir was educated at St. Patrick's National School in Drumcondra before later attending the O'Connell School. He later studied electrical engineering at University College Dublin, but he abandoned his studies after just one year to pursue a full-time career in ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Raymond Glendenning
Raymond Carl Glendenning (25 September 1907 – 23 February 1974) was a BBC radio sports commentator and occasional character actor. Early years He was born in Newport, Monmouthshire, Wales, and was educated at Newport High School and the University of London. He worked briefly as a chartered accountant before joining the BBC as an organiser on Children's Hour in Cardiff in 1932. Pre-war and wartime career In 1935 he moved to Belfast as an outside broadcasts assistant, and began commentating on local sporting events on the BBC's Northern Ireland service. In 1939 he moved to London and joined the national outside broadcasts staff, becoming assistant director in 1942. By this time he was commentating on many major sporting events, and by the end of the Second World War was the BBC's leading sports commentator. Postwar career He covered the FA Cup Final every year from 1946 to 1963. He also commentated on the 1962 World Cup and regularly on domestic and international football m ... [...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] |
Fred Winter
Frederick Thomas Winter, (20 September 1926 – 5 April 2004) was a British National Hunt racing racehorse jockey and trainer. He was British jump racing Champion Jockey four times and British jump racing Champion Trainer eight times. He is the only person to have won the Cheltenham Gold Cup, Champion Hurdle and Grand National as both jockey and trainer. Winter won the Grand National four times, as a jockey in 1957 (Sundew) and 1962 (Kilmore), and as a trainer in 1965 (Jay Trump) and 1966 (Anglo). His most famous victory as a jockey was on Mandarin in the 1962 Grand Steeple-Chase de Paris at Auteuil. His victory despite his illness, a broken bit and Mandarin breaking down in the last half-mile was voted the greatest ride ever in a 2006 Racing Post poll. The race was listed in The Guardian as one of the greatest races ever. As a jockey he rode a then-record 923 National Hunt winners before his retirement in 1964. Honours He was appointed CBE in the 1963 Birthday Honours. C ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Arthur Freeman (jockey)
Arthur Freeman (7 January 1926 - 1988) was an English jockey who is most well known for winning the 1958 Grand National riding Mr. What. He also won the 1958 King George VI Chase riding Lochroe, the 1960 Triumph Hurdle riding Turpial and the 1958 and 1959 Broadway Novices' Chase riding Just Awake and Mac Joy respectively. He was The Queen Mother's jockey. He rode M'as Tu Vu in the 1955 and 1956 Grant National but did not finish either. In 1960, he fell during a race at Plumpton and suffered a fractured skull. He was in a coma for three days and the injury ended his jockey career and so he became a trainer out of Newmarket. Freeman once owned future Grand National winner Specify. In his later years he suffered with depression, gambling and alcohol problems which contributed to the break up of his marriage, estrangement from his sons and bankruptcy. He died in 1988. He is the father of Conservative MP George Freeman. Major wins Great Britain *Grand National ... [...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] |
