1985 Grand National
The 1985 Grand National (officially known as the Seagram Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 139th renewal of the Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 30 March 1985. The race was won by eleven-year-old, 50/1 outsider, Last Suspect, ridden by Hywel Davies in a time of 9 minutes 42.7 seconds for a prize of £54,314. The winner was owned by Anne, Duchess of Westminster and trained by Captain Tim Forster in Letcombe Bassett, Oxfordshire. Build up, leading contenders and race Aintree chose this year to honour all of the surviving winning jockeys in National history. Almost all of those still alive attended the event which took place in front of the Grandstand two hours before the race was due to take place. Each rider was introduced to the crowd before being presented with an Aynsley China Trophy by Princess Anne. The oldest of those to take part was eighty-two-year-old Tim Hamey who had been victorious aboard Forbra in 1932. As for its introduction last year, the maximum field safety limit of forty runners was filled with no entrants being withdrawn on the day of the race. The public however were undecided