1840 Grand National
Encyclopedia
The 1840 Grand Liverpool Steeplechase was the second official annual running of a steeplechase
, later to become known as the Grand National Steeplechase handicap horse race which took place at Aintree
Racecourse near Liverpool
on March 5, 1840 and attracted a then smallest ever field of thirteen runners.
Although recorded by the press at the time as the fifth running of the Grand Liverpool, which was renamed the Grand National in 1847, the first three runnings were poorly organised affairs.
The race was not run as a handicap chase and therefore all the runners were declared to carry 12 stone.
. All thirteen runners cleared these banks without incident but at the brook Cruickshank stumbled on landing and was cannoned into by Weathercock with both falling. The former was remounted by his jockey, Guy, albeit with a severely bloodied nose while the latter's rider, Barker was carried unconscious to Seed's farmhouse nearby.
Valentine had established a good lead at this stage in his owner's bid to secure a bet that his mount would be first to complete a circuit of the course. Upon reaching the second brook beyond the Canal Turn, Valentine made to refuse but his momentum was such that the horse corkscrewed, almost backwards over the obstacle. His rider remained in the saddle and despite his rivals gaining much ground, the pairing continued intact to complete the circuit in the lead and secure the bet while behind him Hasty fell and was quickly remounted.
Last year's champion Lottery reached the stone wall in front of the stands in second place but clipped the top of the obstacle, falling amid a flurry of dismantled masonry. All three horses following immediately behind were caught in the melee and were brought down, the three being Columbine, favourite The Nun and Seventy-four. Powell remounted the favourite but was forced to pull up before setting off on the second circuit when she was found to be lame while Olliver was taken to the stands with a broken collar bone and concussion.
The pileup allowed Valentine to re-establish a lead of many lengths over the rest of the field but he was caught shortly before reaching Becher's for the second time by Jerry and Arthur with the remaining competitors too far behind to be able to issue a challenge. Arthur fell heavily at the brook, leaving Jerry to canter home over the remaining fences to win as he liked. Arthur was quickly remounted and although he caught Valentine before jumping the final hurdle he was unable to make up the ground on Jerry and finished second by four lengths with Valentine the same distance behind in third. The remaining runners had not reached the distance chair situated beside the wall fence by the time the third horse had passed the post, thus these runners were officially declared as non finishers. Those who did pass the post were, in order, Cruickshank, Hasty, The Sea and Spolasco. The last horse had fallen during the second circuit and was remounted while The Augean also fell at some point during the second circuit.
Despite winning in a very comfortable manner, and slowing to a canter a long way before the finish, Jerry still finished in a time of twelve minutes and thirty seconds, shattering the course record by a minute and a half.
Steeplechase
Steeplechase may refer to:* Steeplechase, an event in horse racing* SteepleChase, a Danish jazz label* Steeplechase , a 1975 arcade game released by Atari...
, later to become known as the Grand National Steeplechase handicap horse race which took place at Aintree
Aintree
Aintree is a village and civil parish in the Metropolitan Borough of Sefton, Merseyside. It lies between Walton and Maghull on the A59 road, about north of Liverpool city centre, in North West England....
Racecourse near Liverpool
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough of Merseyside, England, along the eastern side of the Mersey Estuary. It was founded as a borough in 1207 and was granted city status in 1880...
on March 5, 1840 and attracted a then smallest ever field of thirteen runners.
Although recorded by the press at the time as the fifth running of the Grand Liverpool, which was renamed the Grand National in 1847, the first three runnings were poorly organised affairs.
The race was not run as a handicap chase and therefore all the runners were declared to carry 12 stone.
Betting
- 3/1 favourite was the eleven-year-old mare The NunThe NunThe Nun may refer to:* La Religieuse , an 18th century French novel by Denis Diderot, called The Nun in English* La Religieuse , a 1966 Drama movie directed by Jacques Rivette, based on the Diderot novel...
, who had also been sent off as favourite the previous year, only to finish seventh after falling twice. Her rider, A Powell was taking his second ride in the race, having finished in eighth last year.
- 4/1 Lottery, the ten-year-old bay gelding and his partner Jem Mason who together had won the race the previous year on their debut.
- 6/1 Last year's runner up, the seven-year-old Seventy-four, partnered, as last year by Tom OlliverTom OlliverThomas 'Tom' Olliver , born Oliver or Olivere, was a steeplechase jockey and racehorse trainer, who won three Grand Nationals as a rider in the 1840s and 50s....
.
- 8/1 Arthur was a six-year-old giving Alan McDonough a record fourth ride in the race, including unofficial races, one of which he had won in 18381838 Grand NationalThe 1838 Grand Liverpool Steeplechase was the last of three unofficial annual precursors of a Handicap Steeple-chase, later to become known as the Grand National Steeplechase Horse race which took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool on 5 March 1838 and attracted a field of three runners...
.
- 16/1 JerryJerry (racehorse)Jerry was a racehorse. He won the 1840 Grand National, defeating twelve rivals. He was ridden by Bartholomew Bretherton, trained by George Dockeray and owned by Henry Villebois.-External links:*...
had been saddled to run the previous year but was a last minute withdrawal. This year the ten-year-old was partnered by local coach business owner Bartholomew BrethertonBartholomew BrethertonBartholomew Bretherton was a coach proprietor from Rainhill near St Helens who also rode many times in the Grand National as an amateur rider, winning the race in 1840 in the colours of Henry Villebois on his horse Jerry...
who had previously taken part in the unofficial 18361836 Grand NationalThe 1836 Grand Liverpool Steeplechase was the first of three unofficial annual precursors of a handicap race which later became known as the Grand National....
race, finishing third.
- 100/5 Cruickshank was a debut ride for E Guy, one of seven riders taking part in their first National.
- 100/4 Valentine was giving a debut ride to his owner Alan Power who had wagered heavily on being the first to reach the wall at the halfway stage of the race.
- 30/1 The Augean, a seven-year-old ridden by Charles Christian, whose father DickDick Christian-Biography:Christian was the son of James and Jane Christian of Cottesmore, Rutland. He was taken on as a groom by Sir Gilbert Heathcote and was subsequently employed by the Cottesmore Hunt, of which Sir Gilbert was Master. In 1809 he set up as a farmer in North Luffenham and in the 1820s he moved...
had finished second in the unofficial 18361836 Grand NationalThe 1836 Grand Liverpool Steeplechase was the first of three unofficial annual precursors of a handicap race which later became known as the Grand National....
race.
- 30/1 Columbine, a six-year-old ridden by Mr Won
- 30/1 Hasty, ridden by Mr Rigg
- 30/1 The Sea, ridden by his owner Henry Beresford, 3rd Marquess of Waterford
- 30/1 Spolasco, ridden by W A Rose
- 30/1 Weathercock, an eight-year-old second ride in the race for last year's fourth placed jockey, P Barker
The race
The course remained unchanged from the previous year with the runners starting from a position beyond the modern Melling Road. The competitors then negotiated four small gorse topped banks before reaching the newly named Becher's BrookBecher'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 sixth and 22nd fence, as well as on four other occasions during the year...
. All thirteen runners cleared these banks without incident but at the brook Cruickshank stumbled on landing and was cannoned into by Weathercock with both falling. The former was remounted by his jockey, Guy, albeit with a severely bloodied nose while the latter's rider, Barker was carried unconscious to Seed's farmhouse nearby.
Valentine had established a good lead at this stage in his owner's bid to secure a bet that his mount would be first to complete a circuit of the course. Upon reaching the second brook beyond the Canal Turn, Valentine made to refuse but his momentum was such that the horse corkscrewed, almost backwards over the obstacle. His rider remained in the saddle and despite his rivals gaining much ground, the pairing continued intact to complete the circuit in the lead and secure the bet while behind him Hasty fell and was quickly remounted.
Last year's champion Lottery reached the stone wall in front of the stands in second place but clipped the top of the obstacle, falling amid a flurry of dismantled masonry. All three horses following immediately behind were caught in the melee and were brought down, the three being Columbine, favourite The Nun and Seventy-four. Powell remounted the favourite but was forced to pull up before setting off on the second circuit when she was found to be lame while Olliver was taken to the stands with a broken collar bone and concussion.
The pileup allowed Valentine to re-establish a lead of many lengths over the rest of the field but he was caught shortly before reaching Becher's for the second time by Jerry and Arthur with the remaining competitors too far behind to be able to issue a challenge. Arthur fell heavily at the brook, leaving Jerry to canter home over the remaining fences to win as he liked. Arthur was quickly remounted and although he caught Valentine before jumping the final hurdle he was unable to make up the ground on Jerry and finished second by four lengths with Valentine the same distance behind in third. The remaining runners had not reached the distance chair situated beside the wall fence by the time the third horse had passed the post, thus these runners were officially declared as non finishers. Those who did pass the post were, in order, Cruickshank, Hasty, The Sea and Spolasco. The last horse had fallen during the second circuit and was remounted while The Augean also fell at some point during the second circuit.
Despite winning in a very comfortable manner, and slowing to a canter a long way before the finish, Jerry still finished in a time of twelve minutes and thirty seconds, shattering the course record by a minute and a half.
Aftermath
Again the press were very critical of the race, especially noting the incident at the wall where many spectators had thought Tom Olliver had been killed by his fall, so bad was his state when being carried away to the stands. Furthermore it was later discovered that Barker had been left unattended in a barn near Seed's farm where none of the connections of his mount had made any enquiry as to his state. As a result the wall was replaced with a water jump in time for the next running.Historical inaccuracies
Later historical accounts of the Grand National are notorious for carrying factual errors. The official history of the race written in the 1980s recorded Cruickshank as a non runner and The Sea as an official finisher in fourth place.Finishing order
| position | name | rider | age | weight | starting price | dstance or fate |
| Winner | Jerry Jerry (racehorse) Jerry was a racehorse. He won the 1840 Grand National, defeating twelve rivals. He was ridden by Bartholomew Bretherton, trained by George Dockeray and owned by Henry Villebois.-External links:*... |
Bartholomew Bretherton Bartholomew Bretherton Bartholomew Bretherton was a coach proprietor from Rainhill near St Helens who also rode many times in the Grand National as an amateur rider, winning the race in 1840 in the colours of Henry Villebois on his horse Jerry... |
10 | 12-00 | 16/1 | |
| Second {remounted} | Arthur | Alan McDonough | 6 | 12-00 | 8/1 | Fell at Becher's 2nd time round |
| Third | Valentine | Alan Power | 12-00 | 100/4 | ||
| Fourth (remounted at least twice) | The Sea | Henry Beresford, 3rd Marquess of Waterford | 12-00 | 30/1 | ||
| Non finishers | ||||||
| Cruickshank | E Guy | 12-00 | 100/5 | Passed the post fourth but may not have jumped the entire course | ||
| Hasty | Mr Rigg | 12-00 | 30/1 | Passed the post fifth but may not have jumped the entire course | ||
| Spolasco | W A Rose | 12-00 | 30/1 | Passed the post seventh but may not have jumped the entire course | ||
| The Nun | A Powell | 12-00 | 3/1 favourite | Fell at the wall | ||
| Lottery | Jem Mason | 10 | 12-00 | 4/1 | Fell at the wall | |
| Seventy-Four | Tom Olliver Tom Olliver Thomas 'Tom' Olliver , born Oliver or Olivere, was a steeplechase jockey and racehorse trainer, who won three Grand Nationals as a rider in the 1840s and 50s.... |
7 | 12-00 | 6/1 | Fell at the wall | |
| Columbine | Mr Won | 6 | 12-00 | 30/1 | Fell at the wall | |
| The Augean | Charles Christian | 7 | 12-00 | 30/1 | Fell on the second circuit | |
| Weathercock | P Barker | 8 | 12-00 | 30/1 | Fell at Becher's on the first circuit |
Sources
- www.hometown.aol.co.uk/captainbeecher/1840JERRY.html
- The Irish newsletter (various editions March 1840)
- The Times (various editions March 1840)
- A to Z of the Grand National (John Cottrell & Marcus Armytage - Highdown press, ISBN 978-1-905156-43-6)