1842 Grand National
| Grand National | |
| Location | Aintree |
|---|---|
| Date | 2 March 1842 |
| Winning horse | Gaylad |
| Starting price | 7/1 |
| Jockey | Tom Olliver |
| Trainer | George Dockeray |
| Owner | John Elmore |
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The 1842 Grand Liverpool Steeplechase was the fourth official annual running of a steeplechase, later to become known as the Grand National Steeplechase, a horse race which took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool on 2 March 1842 and attracted 15 runners.
Although recorded by the press at the time as the seventh running of the Grand Liverpool, which was renamed the Grand National in 1847, the first three runnings were poorly organised affairs and are today regarded as unofficial.
The race was not run as a handicap chase and therefore all the runners were declared to carry 12 stone with the exception of the winner of the 1840 Cheltenham Steeplechase who had to carry 13 stone 4 lbs.
The remaining runners did not command a starting price from the bookmakers and were sent off unquoted.
The course consisted of two circuits of a spindle shaped course at Aintree, starting from a position beside the stables and running off the racecourse over Melling Road and into open countryside. The competitors would have to negotiate any hedges and banks they came across to travel from field to field, most of which were open ploughland, until reaching Becher's Brook, a man made post and rails. From here the field then turned left towards the Leeds to Liverpool canal, before jumping the Canal Turn, a fence at a sharp 90 degree angle. This would then place the runners in the fields running along the canal where they would jump Valentine's Brook, The Table top, a fence in which the landing side was significantly raised, and then the lane fences, two hedges either side of the Melling Road that marked the point where the runners re-entered the actual race course. From here the land was laid to turf as the runners turned left and came back towards the stands. Here they had to negotiate the monument or made fence, today known as the chair, and then a water jump before setting off on a second circuit of the course. On reaching the race course for a second time the runners would this time jump two hurdles before a long run in to the finish line, bypassing the monument fence and water jump on the way.
Anonymous and Columbine led the competitors around the first circuit in which Sam Weller was the only recorded faller, somewhere near Becher's Brook.
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