DAVID CARR DOES NOT GET IT, GOOD-TO-SOFT NATIONAL & GREAT HORSES SOMETIMES DO NOT WIN.

The opinions of others should always be respected. For instance, writing the 'Another View' column in the Racing Post this morning, David Carr supports the many changes to the race he refers to as the Grand National, as if after a hundred and one changes something can be the same as when it was first constructed. He is right when he says life moves on, referencing, amonst others, the F.A. Cup semi-finals were played without a t.v. audience and that fifty years ago the Grand National was sponsored by the now defunct 'News of the World' newspaper. I respect and accept his opinion and I would hope he would likewise accept my differing stance on this subject.

I am aware that the Grand Nationals won by Red Rum were different to the race Merryman won in 1960 and that year's renewal was different to the race won by Golden Miller in 1934 and so on all the way back to Lottery in 1839. All of British life has changed since 1839. When the drip, drip, drip of change was first imposed on the race by the present administration at Aintree, I was appalled by every one, now, after much anguish and inner debate, I have come to accept them, even if I remain unconvinced by an approach that gives further ammunition and confidence to our opponents. What I object to is that Aintree continue to title the race 'The Grand National' as if the likes of Red Rum and Merryman could jump in now and be the star players they were in their age. The race is run over a different distance, with less runners and with fences whose famous sporting names are nothing more than sign-posts to a time when legends lived and breathed. What has been sucked out of the race is the romantic notion that the journeyman could achieve 15-minutes of fame and live a better life because of it. The men and women of Aintree are disingenuous; they have not saved an iconic horse race but their cash-cow. God only knows what changes will be made for next year's race if a horse should perish this time around! As always, I will have my fingers crossed for a deathless race.

The weather forecast suggests, at best, a good-to-soft Aintree National. Which, as long as your fancy is not a mudlark, is a best of all possible options.

When a horse is best known for being always the plucky runner-up, it is as if they never won a race. Wyndburgh falls into that category, yet he won the race now known as the Eider Chase twice and a race over the National fences in 1959 which was titled the Christmas Cracker Chase. He is one of the few horses to have run in six successive Grand Nationals, finishing 2nd in 1957 to Sundew, a horse who went round Aintree belting as many as he could, with only the brilliance of Fred Winter countering his suicidal tendencies. The following year, Wyndburgh was fourth to Mr.What, a horse that never won another race, though always gave his best at Aintree, with another unsung heroine of the race, Tiberetta, dam of Spanish Steps, also placed three-times in subsequent Grand Nationals, 2nd.

In 1959, 34 went to post but only 4 completed, with Oxo beating Wyndburgh one and a half-lengths, with Mr.What 3rd and Tiberette 4th. Yet that tells only half the tale, as everyone must know, Tim Brookshaw lost an iron at Bechers second-time round and kicking away his other iron rode without irons to the end of the race. It was the race that got away from jockey and hors, with Brookshaw and Wyndburgh relentless closing the gap on Oxo, with everyone present who were not on Oxo, willing him to an unlikely victory. The major surprise of 1960, the first televised Grand National, was that Wyndburgh fell at Bechers first time round. In 1961, the year of Nicholas Silver, the ground was fast, which was not to Wyndburgh's liking, and he could only finish 8th. Wyndburgh's sixth and final appearance in the Grand National was in 1962, finishing second, again beaten by Fred Winter, this time of Kilmore. This renewal of the race can be described as the antithesis of what goes for the National these days, in that the first three to finish, Mr.What was 3rd, were all 12, with a 10-year-old 4th and an 11-year-old 5th. In fact of the 17 that finished only 2 were less than 10-years-old.

Incidentally, the fourth horse, Gay Navarree, as was often the case in the very early days of the race, took part in the 1964 National under the name of Pontin-Go, something that would never be allowed today.