Aside from Cheltenham and Royal Ascot, one of Victor’s favourite race meetings was the Grand National Festival at Aintree, and he went up to bet there every year. The whole racing circus was staying away from home for three nights and there were so many characters to see, like the Graham Brothers from Belfast, and Sandy ‘Pickles’ Rice, who’d once looked after Uncle Ronnie in Ireland.
The Chandler family’s involvement with the big race went back to Victor’s grandfather’s day, while the quality of the supporting cards was getting better each year and all the big gamblers came out to play. In 1998, the firm would lay JP McManus a £130,000 bet on Istabraq at 8-13 in the Martell Hurdle, only for the champion to be beaten a head by Tony McCoy on Pridwell.
The atmosphere at Aintree was less intense than Cheltenham, and there was partying every night. Bill Tye fondly remembers the bomb scare in 1997, when the course had to be evacuated on the Saturday afternoon and a Blitz spirit ensued. The firm’s chauffeur at the time was an ex-policeman called John, but nobody was allowed back into the car park from the grandstand, so they all had to start walking.
