Royal Mail (1)

When you win the Grand National, you know it’s going to be a special occasion with a lot of interest. Royal Mail was lucky enough to experience that feeling, but on top of that, had a bigger crowd than normal at Aintree Racecourse cheering him home.

It is estimated that 300,000 people were inside Aintree racecourse in 1937 to watch Royal Mail have his first attempt of three at the race, and it would turn out to be a winning one.

The Royal family at the time were on course, and he had royal in his name, odds of 100/6 showed he was a lively outsider and was generally received as a popular winner when he took the race. He would do so by a winning distance of three lengths. Soft conditions made this a tougher test than normal for those competing, and from 33 starters, just seven were able to complete the course and cross the finish line.

When taking the contest, he was winning for Wales, with both his trainer Ivor Anthony and race jockey Evan Williams coming from Wales and working together.

The 1937 victory would be the first of three Grand National attempts for Royal Mail, but he was not able to build on his win and take the race again. With plenty more weight on his back, he pulled up in 1938 and failed to complete, while again with a lot of weight in 1939, he would complete the course but could only finish in 9^th position.

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