"THE LIVERPOOL" 



prior to the year 1839, when a syndicate of local sports- 

 men, who had lately taken over the lease of the Grand 

 Stand and Racecourse, designed what has come to be 

 known as the Grand National. It was then called 

 the Grand Liverpool Steeplechase, with the following 

 conditions : 



"A sweepstake of 20 sovs. each, 5 forfeit, with 100 

 added ; 1 2 st. each, gentlemen riders ; four miles across 

 the country ; second to save his stake, and the winner 

 to pay 10 sovs. towards expenses ; no rider to open a 

 gate or ride through a gateway, or more than 20 yards 

 along any road, footpath or driftway." 



For a great many years prior to the war the Grand 

 National invariably took place in the first week of the 

 season, at the Liverpool Spring Meeting, which followed 

 immediately on the Lincoln Meeting, the Rule of 

 Racing which dealt with the subject laying it down 

 that " no race shall be run earlier than in the week which 

 includes the 25th March, unless that be the one next 

 before Easter Sunday, in which case races may be run 

 in the week preceding." The precise date when this 

 rule came into force I am unable to give, at any rate it 

 was later than 1864, as in that year I find that the Grand 

 National, won by Lord Coventry's Emblematic, took 

 place on the 9th March. 



