july 1st, 1964. a day darker than black.

​I was 10-years old in 1964 and only a few years before I had found what was to become the love of my life. For me, discovering the Grand National must have been similar to when Howard Carter opened up the intact burial site of the Pharoah Tutankhamun and his eyes fell upon treasures beyond his imagination. The Grand National, to me, then, was a wonder to behold, a sight for the eyes, an inspiration for life ever-after. My first dream, I suspect, was in one capacity or another was winning the Grand National.
How I became informed of Mirabel Topham’s – I would have had no idea who she was and what her association with the race could be – intention to sell Aintree racecourse to Capital and Counties Property Limited and that the last ever Grand National run at Aintree would be in 1965, I cannot remember. Perhaps my father told me, perhaps I read a headline in a newspaper. I suspect I cried.
It was beyond belief that an event as magical as the Grand National could be allowed to die! Something had to be done and thankfully, and May God preserve his Soul, Lord Sefton came to the rescue by seeking an injunction to stop Mirabel Topham committing a sporting atrocity unbeknown in the world of sport. When Lord Sefton, fifteen-years before, had sold the racecourse to Topham Limited, he had the foresight to include a codicil in the contract preventing the racecourse being used for anything other than horse racing or agricultural.
In October 1964, Lord Justice Stamp ruled in favour of Lord Sefton.
Joy unlimited! The Grand National was saved for all eternity! No houses would be built on the sacred soil!
But no, there was a sting in the tail of Lord Justice Stamp’s ruling; weeks before announcing her intention to sell Aintree Racecourse, Mirabel Topham had obtained copyright to the title ‘Grand National Steeplechase’. The final Grand National, she confirmed, would be in 1965. In the High Court she had argued that it was perfectly possible for the race to be staged at another racecourse, though, of course, under a different title.
As it turned out, 1965 was the first of many ‘last Grand Nationals’, a state of affairs that continued for years to come. The 1966 renewal would be, according to a frustrated Mrs. Topham, positively the last held at Liverpool. The 1966 race, incidentally, included the first and last ever runner from Japan, Fujino-O. The legal battle entered the House of Lords in 1967 where Lord Sefton’s injunction was reversed, with costs awarded to Mrs.Topham.
All of this, I suspect, occurred outside of my awareness, even if one of the B.B.C.’s commentators doubtless declared each succeeding renewal ‘the last Grand National’. Of course, if to add spice to the legal farce, 1967 was the year every horse fell and jockeys comically went hither and thither, except the brave Foinavon and his fortunate jockey, John Buckingham.
1968 was again ‘positively the final Grand National’.
In 1972 optimism that the Grand National had, against the odds, a secure future, was added-to by the race securing a sponsor for the first time, B.P. Limited. Optimism was soon deflated by the news that negotiations between Mrs. Topham and Lancashire County and Liverpool City Councils had broken down and the 1972 race was to be ‘emphatically the final Grand National’.
In the run-up to the 1973 race, Mrs.Topham revealed to Julian Wilson that she had a buyer for the racecourse and she hoped the sell would allow the race to remain at Aintree.
Of course, the 1973 Grand National was to not only become the greatest in the long history of the race but undoubtedly the greatest race ever run on a British racecourse. Also, it might have provided the tipping point in favour of the optimists. Four horses broke the track record on March 31st, Spanish Steps, L’Escargot, Crisp and the immortal Red Rum. Crisp put-up, to my mind, the greatest performance on a racecourse, attempting to give the 2-years younger and to become the greatest ever horse over the Aintree fences, 23Ibs and humping 12st and failing to achieve the impossible by only ¾ of a length.
Red Rum’s name appeared for the first time on the County Stand roll of honour, under which were the ominous words – The End Of An Era. In November, Mrs. Topham sold Aintree to Mr. Bill Davies for £3-million.
In 1975 Bill Davies announced he was selling the racecourse to an Irish Property Developer, Patrick McCrea. The deal fell through. Ladbrokes then came to the rescue, bidding £1.5-million. Then the Jockey Club gave Davies a month to come to some sort of agreement or the race would be transferred to Doncaster. In December, three-days before Christmas, Ladbrokes secured an agreement to manage the race until 1978. 
1977 saw Charlotte Brew become the first female rider in the race. Was it really that long ago!
Ladbrokes continued their administration of Aintree until 1982. The Jockey Club had shamelessly dragged their feet throughout the whole sorry saga and finally were shamed into action and through its subsidiary Racecourse Holdings Trust entered into a legal agreement with Bill Davies to buy Aintree for £7-million. As if to prove its apathy, the Jockey Club reasoned that if the man in the street wanted so desperately to preserve the race, it must pay and the Aintree Grand National Appeal was launched. I remember buying two sweatshirts with ‘Save The National’ on the front. A deadline of only 7-months was given to raise the funds.
The appeal failed. The Jockey Club presented Bill Davies with a second proposal. £4-million. A new contract was drawn-up. A new appeal was launched, with May 1st 1983 the day of reckoning.
To bring a long and sorry episode in racing’s history to its conclusion, with the intervention of Seagram and its British chairman Ivan Straker, Bill Davies eventually agreed to sell for £3.4-million. After 20-years of legal wrangling, the Grand National was safe. The first non-last-ever-Grand National was won by Hallo Dandy.
The present custodians of the race, especially Suleka Varma, the present clerk of the course, would do well to study the infamous 20-years when every year was the final year and take on board the effort so many people put in over such a long period of time to save the Grand National and all that the race means to the racing community. She should also read Reg Green’s wonderful book ‘A Race Apart’; as I consulted his mighty tome for all the facts contained in this article.