All 16 are jumped on the first lap, but on the final lap, the runners bear to the right onto the run-in for home, avoiding The Chair and the Water Jump. The motorcycle events have been organised by Aintree Motor Cycle Racing Club since 1982, which runs six events at Aintree each year. However, some historians have unearthed evidence in recent years that suggests those three races were run over the same course at Aintree and were regarded as having been Grand Nationals up until the mid-1860s. On the final lap, after the 30th fence, the remaining runners bear right, avoiding The Chair and Water Jump, to head onto a "run-in" to the finishing post.

Edward Topham, who was assigned the task of framing the weights for the handicap from 1847 and whose descendants played a major role in the race for the next 125 years.Other fences have also been reduced in height over the years, and the entry requirements for the race have been made stricter. Flat races of five furlongs were run on a straight course which ran diagonally across the centre of the Mildmay course. The 1963 winner Ayala and the 1976 winner Rag Trade were both part-owned by celebrity hairdresser Raymond Bessone. Though Corach Rambler did his ‘Marty the giraffe’ (from Madagascar) impression by putting his head up in the air half way up the run-in and although it looks like he is having a good look around rather than concentrating on racing, it does not stop him. As animal rights protestors continue to mass outside the Aintree gates, Dark Raven, who fell at the seventh in the 3pm Mersey Novices Hurdle, has been put down.

The 1997 Grand National was postponed after two coded bomb threats were received from the Provisional Irish Republican Army. Aintree Racecourse is located on the A59, just one mile from the M57 and M58, which link the M62 and M6. In 1990 the brooks at Becher's and Valentine's were filled in, while the landing side of Becher's was raised to reduce the drop. Another member of the syndicate, Edward William Topham, who was also a racing handicapper, took over as the leading influence at Aintree.

In 1829, William Lynn, the owner of the Waterloo Hotel in Ranelagh Street, Liverpool, approached the Second Earl of Sefton, William Philip Molyneux, whose nickname was 'Lord Dashalong', about leasing land to organise flat racing.

Since 1986, any jockey making five or more clear rounds has been awarded the Aintree Clear Rounds Award. Horse racing was popular in Liverpool from at least Tudor times, In the 18th century Nicholas Blundell organised races on the sands at Crosby. Press Office – 2010 Grand National in HD – a first for UK horse racing Archived 11 April 2010 at the Wayback Machine. Before 1888 the first two fences were located approximately halfway between the first to second and second to third jumps.With limited accommodation available in the city, local residents opened their doors and took in many of those stranded. The Grand National is a National Hunt horse race held annually at Aintree Racecourse, Aintree, Merseyside, England. These races have long been disregarded because of the belief that they took place at Maghull and not Aintree. In December 1953 the Mildmay steeplechase course was opened with smaller versions of the Grand National fences. Animal rights activists who delayed the Grand National after storming the Aintree racecourse have been accused of using “hypocritical” tactics for a “publicity stunt” which endangered the horses' welfare.