The 1979 Grand National (officially known as the Colt Car Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 133rd renewal of the

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Aintree, Merseyside, England. First run in 1839, it ...

horse race Horse racing is an equestrian performance activity, typically involving two or more horses ridden by jockeys (or sometimes driven without riders) over a set distance for competition. It is one of the most ancient of all sports, as its bas ...

, which 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, northeast of Liverpool city centre. In 2011 the parish had a p ...

near

Liverpool Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

, on 31 March 1979. The race was won by

Rubstic Rubstic (1969-1995) was a British-bred Thoroughbred racehorse who competed in National Hunt racing. Rubstic was owned by the former Scottish international rugby player John Douglas. He became the first Scottish-trained horse to win the Grand N ...

who was the first ever Scottish-trained winner.

Finishing order

Non-finishers

Aftermath Unfortunately, the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Alverton broke his neck at Becher's on the second circuit and was euthanized. The Grand National: the history of the Aintree spectacular, by Stewart Peters & Bernard Parkin,

Media coverage and aftermath

David Coleman David Robert Coleman (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 196 ...

once again presented a special edition of

Grandstand A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators, typically at sports stadiums and including both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium i ...

on the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

. The favourite, Alverton, died after falling at

Becher's Brook Becher's Brook ( ) is a fence jumped during the Grand National, a National Hunt Horse racing, horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England. It is jumped twice during the race, as the and fence, as well as on four othe ...

on the second circuit (fence 22) when travelling strongly. Just over two weeks earlier he had won the

Cheltenham Gold Cup The Cheltenham Gold Cup is a Grade 1 National Hunt horse race run on the New Course at Cheltenham Racecourse in England, over a distance of about 3 miles 2½ furlon ...

and was going for a famous double only achieved by,

Golden Miller Golden Miller (1927–1957) was a Thoroughbred racehorse who is the most successful Cheltenham Gold Cup horse ever, winning the race in five consecutive years between 1932 and 1936. He also is the only horse to win both of the United Kingdom's p ...

, in 1934. Kintai was another fatality who was brought down at fence 15 and was later euthanized.

References

1979 1979

Grand National The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse in Aintree, Merseyside, England. First run in 1839, it ...

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