It has changed a lot since this footage was captured Rare footage captures a day at the Grand National in Aintree around a century ago. Now in its 186th official year, the Grand National at Aintree has long been at the centre of many historic and fascinating stories. After a few events in the 1830s, the first official Grand National was run in 1839 and looked very different to what we've come to recognise today.
The first Grand National took place on a Tuesday, with 17 runners and first winner was called Lottery. Growing in popularity, by 1885 organisers began to rail the course off on the farmland and more crowds arrived. Next week, the Grand National returns to Aintree for a three-day racing event next week, culminating with the British racing calendar's most famous race.
The Randox Grand National 2025 takes place at Aintree Racecourse from Thursday, April 3 to Saturday, April 5. But amazing footage offers a glimpse into life the Grand National decades ago. Believed to have been taken in the 1920s, the rare footage has been unearthed from the Getty archives, courtesy Sherman Grinberg Library, Paramount and Pathe Newsreels.
The silent black and white video is only brief, but offers a fascinating look at how different the event was decades ago. The video starts with horses wearing blankets being paraded past spectators. You can see how the course looked at that moment in time, as well as how popular the event was with huge crowds turning out.
The style of spectators has also .
