It seemed that it may be a case of ‘After the Lord Mayor’s Show’ at Aintree Racecourse in 1997. In the end it was a case of the Lord’s procession in a unique running of the Grand National.
Following an IRA bomb scare the world’s greatest steeplechase had to be postponed and a mass exodus from the Aintree course took place to try and keep the participants and the racegoers safe. Just four years on from the ‘National That Never Was’ – the race which had to be voided because of issues at the start with several horses carrying on regardless – it appeared another running of the Aintree marathon would be lost.
But Aintree officials pulled out all the stops to reschedule the showpiece event to be run the following Monday – the one and only time it took place on the first day of the working week.
