1850 Grand National: Results, Runners & Fallers

A record field at the time would go to post for the 1850 Grand National, with Abd-El-Kader coming home in front to win the race by a length.

He was certainly not amongst the fancied runners, so much so that bookmakers didn’t actually officially offer a price on him to win the race beforehand, so he doesn’t have an official SP returned to give his price. Stories from the day say that he was quoted at 20/1 in running at one point when it became apparent that he would have a chance of winning.

The race was run on good ground, and as mentioned, a record field for the time would take part in the race, with 32 horses lining up to take part. Of those runners, nine would be able to finish, with Abd-El-Kader being the first of those. Last year’s winner, Peter Simple, and the 1848 winner, Chandler, both returned to the race, but neither was able to complete the course.

A year after this race, Abd-El-Kader would return to run in the Grand National again, and he would win again. With the official record books discounting races from 1836-1838, when winning a year later, Abd-El-Kader would become the first dual and first back-to-back winner of the Grand National.

There is also some dispute around the time of this race too, and whether this was the first Grand National to be won in a time less than 10 minutes. If you believe the official Aintree course records, then yes, with a winning time of 9 minutes and 57 seconds, this is the first ever Grand National to be won under 10 minutes. However, many news reports at the time would give the winning time as 10 minutes and 20 seconds.

Joseph Osbourne was the winning trainer, and just like the horse, he would be here in his first-ever Grand National. Osbourne would train the winner to success 12 months later and then never train another horse for the Grand National, leaving him with the record of two runners in the race and two winners.

The winning rider here was Chris Green, a man who was having his first Grand National success and like the horse and trainer, was doing it at the first time of asking. He would go on to ride in this race for more than a decade and would get another winner on the board when he rode Half Caste to victory in 1859.

Results

Non Finishers