Vermouth

For three years in the 1910s, World War I would be run away from Aintree racecourse, which was set up as a war base during those years.

The first of which was in 1916, and for three years, Gatwick racecourse would host the race in the South of England. There’s plenty of talk whether the winners in these years should be included in official statistics, but most allow them to be.

In 1916, the first race away from Aintree, Vermouth would land the Grand National in really good style to be the first winner away from Aintree. Officially called the War National but known as the Grand National by most, the race had 29 jumps and was run over four miles, so it had an almost identical profile.

The success in 1916 would be the first time that Vermouth had run in the Grand National, but it wouldn’t be the last. He would run a total of four times in the race, all three at Gatwick, and then in 1919, he would run in the race when it returned to Aintree as his final attempt at it.

He would finish 4^th in 1917 on his return to try and defend his title, but with more than a stone of additional weight on his back, that was always going to make the task much tougher. On his final two attempts, he would fail to complete and fell in both of them, making an end to his association with the race.

He was trained by James Bell for the duration of his career, and he would actually be the only runner that Bell would ever send to the Grand National.

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