Undoubtedly one of the most famous race meetings in the world the John Smiths Grand National attracts attention from around the world.

On this page we will bring you some, hopefully, interesting facts and figures.

The Aintree Festival meeting extends over three days with around 27,000 attending on the Thursday, 53,000 on the Friday and 68,000 on National day itself. So if you don't fancy the really big crowds come on the Thursday, having said that the atmosphere on the Saturday has to be experienced at least once in your life.

On television the race is broadcast in over 140 countries and is watched by in excess of 600 million viewers.

Just over £2.7m of prize money will be up for grabs over the three days of the Festival, including £900,000 in the big race itself.

The first Grand National was appropriately won by a horse called Lottery who was sent off the 5/1 favourite.

Betting Facts

Red Rum (twice at 9/1), L’Escargot (13/2), Grittar (7/1), West Tip (15/2), Rough Quest (7/1), Earth Summit (7/1), Hedgehunter (7/1) and last year’s winner Comply Or Die (7/1) are the only winners to have been returned at less than 10/1 since 1961.

Favourites have a poor record, with only six of the last 47 favourites having won, Red Rum in 1973 when joint favourite with the second Crisp, Grittar in 1982, Rough Quest in 1996, Earth Summit in 1998, Hedgehunter in 2005 and Comply Or Die last year, who was sent off the 7/1 joint favourite with the sixth home, Cloudy Lane.

There have been 15 long-priced winners in the last 48 runnings, including last years 100/1 wiiner Mon Mome. The most well known being Foinavon at 100/1, Ayala at 66/1, Last Suspect and Anglo at 50/1, Royal Athlete and Ben Nevis at 40/1, Silver Birch and Red Marauder at 33/1, Nicolaus Silver, Kilmore, Specify, Maori Venture and Little Polveir at 28/1 and Rubstic at 25/1.

Since 1961, horses starting at 16/1 or under have won 30 times.

How Old?

Nine-year-olds have proved the most successful age group in recent years, providing nine of the last 30 winners of the John Smith’s Grand National.

Ben Nevis (1980), Little Polveir (1989), Royal Athlete (1995) and Amberleigh House (2004) at 12 are the oldest horses to triumph since 1978.

The oldest winner of all, Peter Simple in 1853, was 15.

There have been seven winning 11-year-olds in the last 30 years - Aldaniti (1981), Last Suspect (1985), Maori Venture (1987), Mr Frisk (1990), Seagram (1991), Miinnehoma (1994) and 2001 scorer Red Marauder.

Silver Birch was 10 when succeeding in 2007 and is one of seven from that age group to win since 1978, along with Numbersixvalverde(2006), Monty’s Pass (2003), Earth Summit (1998), Rough Quest (1996), Hallo Dandy (1984) and Rubstic (1979).

Bindaree, Party Politics and Corbiere, all of whom were eight when they triumphed in 2002, 1992 and 1983 respectively, were the youngest winners of the Grand National in the same period.

Bogskar in 1940 was the most recent seven-year-old to capture the Grand National.

A six-year-old winner has not been seen since Ally Sloper in 1915.

Lutteur III was the last five-year-old to capture the Grand National in 1909 and the fifth in all following on from Alcibiade (1865), Regal(1876), Austerlitz (1877) and Empress (1880).

The current minimum age for a horse to run in the John Smith’s Grand National is six.

Greys?

Only two greys have won the Grand National - The Lamb (1868 and 1871) and Nicolaus Silver (1961).

Greys have gone close in recent years. Suny Bay, second to Lord Gyllene in 1997, filled the same spot behind Earth Summit in 1998 when the top-weight.

Over the next two seasons, Suny Bay finished 13th, while Kendal Cavalier came seventh and 12th in the same two renewals. Baronet fell at the fourth in 1999 and Senor El Betrutti failed to get past the first in 2000.

Two greys were among the first four home in 2002 - the runner-up What’s Up Boys and the fourth Kingsmark - while Birkdale finished 10 and two other greys, Carryonharry and Gun ‘N’ Roses failed to complete.

King Johns Castle finished an excellent second to Comply Or Die in 2008 while the two other greys last failed to get round as Turko fell at Valentines on the second circuit and D’Argent unseated Robert Thornton two fences later.

Trainers

Ginger McCain, who handed over to his son Donald in 2006, was one of two trainers to have dominated the roll of honour, having won the great race four times through the record-breaking Red Rum (1973, 1974 &1977) and Amberleigh House (2004).

The late Fred Rimell was also responsible for four winners - E.S.B. in 1956, Nicolaus Silver in 1961, Gay Trip in 1970 and Rag Trade in 1976.

Nigel Twiston-Davies is the only current trainer to have won the Grand National more than once – being successful with Earth Summit (1998) and Bindaree (2002).

Jenny Pitman, the only woman to train a John Smith’s Grand National winner, sent out Corbiere (1983) and Royal Athlete (1995) to win. Her Esha Ness also ‘won’ the void race in 1993.

Weights

Horses from the top of the handicap have had a fairly poor record in the John Smith’s Grand National in recent years, with 26 out of the last 30 winners carrying less than 11 stone.

The highest-weighted winners in this period were Grittar (11st 5lb) in 1982, Corbiere (11st 4lb) in 1983 and Hedgehunter (11st 1lb) in 2005, while Rhyme ‘N’ Reason (1988) shouldered exactly 11st.

Other winning weights of recent winners are: 10st (Bobbyjo, Lord Gyllene, Rubstic), 10st 2lb (Hallo Dandy), 10st 3lb (Little Polveir), 10st 4lb (Bindaree), 10st 5lb (Last Suspect, Earth Summit), 10st 6lb (Royal Athlete, Seagram, Mr Frisk, Silver Birch), 10st 7lb (Monty’s Pass, Rough Quest, Party Politics), 10st 8lb (Numbersixvalverde, Miinnehoma), 10st 9lb (Lucius, Comply Or Die), 10st 10lb (AmberleighHouse), 10st 11lb (Red Marauder, West Tip), 10st 12lb (Papillon, BenNevis) and 10st 13lb (Maori Venture, Aldaniti).

The 1999 winner, Bobbyjo, was the joint lowest-weighted horse to succeed in the last 30 runnings alongside Lord Gyllene (1997) and Rubstic (1979), though Hallo Dandy in 1984 would have carried the minimum weight if his jockey had not put up 2lb overweight, with the same applying in 1989 to Little Polveir who shouldered 3lb overweight.