1960 Grand National: Results, Runners & Fallers

Finally, a winning Grand National favourite!  For the first time in 33 years, a clear favourite won the Grand National in 1960, with Merryman II taking the contest.

Just 26 runners went to post, with the winner trained by Neville Crump and ridden by Gerry Scott.

Crump landed his third Grand National win with this success, while Scott would take his one and only win in the race.

Ran on good ground, this particular race produced plenty of stories, and it was also a big year for the race off the track.

Media coverage of the Grand National would completely change in 1960, and as would the make up of the race, with a change to the weights system.

Both of these were seen as the Grand National moving into modern times, the addition of TV viewing would be a huge door opening for how many people connected to the race, and ultimately watched it live.

This was also a good year for bookmakers, with the new coverage adding to interest, which in turn led to more bets being placed on the race than we had seen in the past.

First Scottish Grand National Winner

When Merryman II crossed the winning line in 1960, he became the first ever Scottish-bred horse to win the Grand National.

Alongside breaking the duck of winning favourites in recent years, his success delivered a big boost to Scottish racing and breeding, showing that they could compete and get a big race winner.

He would almost land back to back races the following year, finishing second when strongly fancied to go close once again, but that time, he found one runner a little too good.

Crump Lands Third Grand National

Neville Crump had runners in the Grand National for a remarkable 41 years, from 1947 until 1988, and during that period, he would win the race three times.

Those victories all came in the first half of his career, and this win with Merryman II was the third and final of those wins.

He would first take the Grand National in 1948 with Sheila’s Cottage, just his second runner in the race. Then, a second success would come in 1952 with Teal before landing the hat trick when Merryman II won this race in 1960.

Scott Survives Injury to Ride

There was drama ahead of the race for the jockey of Merryman II, Gerry Scott. Just two weeks before the race, he would suffer a broken collarbone, which put his participation in doubt.

However, he was deemed fit to ride, and the 22-year-old would bring his mount home to record a Grand National success when, just a few days earlier, it appeared as though he would have to miss out on the ride due to the injury.

It was just his second Grand National ride, the first was a year earlier when he failed to complete, but he more than made up for that here.

The Grand National, and horse racing in general, is seen as one of the most dangerous sports to be a part of, and this almost took Scott’s big moment away from him. But the great news is that he recovered in time and went on to ride and win the race.

First Televised Grand National

1960 marked a huge moment in the history of the Grand National from a media point of view.

This was the first time ever that the race had been televised, after having just radio commentary on the BBC before that, allowing the audience to get involved in a way they never have before, which would be a real game changer in terms of how much people loved this race.

Since this race in 1960, the BBC have given both TV and radio coverage of the race, this was the landmark first broadcast on TV.

A specially designed tower was created in the middle of the racecourse for the TV commentators to use while navigating us through the race, in a time before broadcast areas were built into grandstands.

One of the most famous stories of the race goes back to when Fred Winter fell at the Canal Turn, which wasn’t too far away from the BBC TV tower. After falling, he wanted to watch the rest of the race and went up the tower to join the BBC commentators while they were on air so he could get the best view of the finish.

Grand National Weights Officially Lowered in 1960

Another change in the race for the better came in 1960, when the weights were lowered, meaning horses had less to carry on their backs. This put more pressure on jockeys to weigh less, but many were riding at lower weights than ever before anyway, so it wasn’t too big a change for them.

In previous years, the top weight of the Grand National would be allotted a maximum weight of 12 stone 7 lbs, but this was reduced to 12 stone.

The top weight was only reserved when a high class horse was in the race, which hadn’t happened for over a decade, so the move was made to bring it down.

It was hoped that this move would see more quality in the race, as some trainers were put off by knowing their runner would have to carry 12 stone 7 lbs on their back.

Results

Non Finishers