Grand National 2024: The changes to this year’s race

Significant changes have been made to this year’s race, after the controversial running in 2023

Of the thousands of horse races organised each year in the UK, only one genuinely stops the nation: the Grand National at Aintree. 
The world’s most prestigious steeplechase features 34 runners taking on the Liverpool course’s 30 Grand National fences. The 4½-mile race takes about nine minutes to complete.
The long list of entries has been announced, with 94 horses entered, although 60 of these will be removed before the big day. 
Here’s everything you need to know about this year’s race, including the changes made since 2023. If you’re interested in where to watch the race on television, see our separate guide. 
The Grand National is the highlight of Aintree’s three-day Grand National Festival, which runs this year from Thursday, April 11 to Saturday, April 13. 
The main event, the Grand National itself, is on the Saturday afternoon. 
The runners will be sent on their way at 4pm on Saturday, April 13.
The Jockey Club have confirmed the start time has been bright forward from 5.15pm, after the controversial 2023 edition of the race, in order to improve the likelihood of good ground. It said the new start time was part of “an ongoing focus on equine welfare”.
The race takes place at Aintree Racecourse, on the outskirts of Liverpool. Since the first edition in 1839, the race has never been held anywhere else. 
Tickets for each day of the festival are on sale via the Jockey Club website. For the day of the Grand National prices start at £45 for adults in The Embankment. Many other enclosures have already sold out. The most expensive hospitality package on sale is £1,225. Car parking is an additional £35, or £60 if you want to park within easy walking distance of the course. 
For 2024, the total number of horses in the Grand National has been reduced from 40 to 34, in order to improve the safety of the race. The highest number of runners ever included was 66, in 1929. The race has also featured as few as 10 horses, back in 1883.
The final 34 horses will be confirmed on Thursday, April 11, 48 hours before the race. As of last year, if a horse is withdrawn after these 48-hour declarations, that horse will not be replaced. 
Initial entries for the race had to be made by February 6, with the BHA then publishing the weights (see below) two weeks later, on February 20. The five-day declarations take place on the Monday before the race, at which point the field will be whittled down to 50.
Only a certain number of horses meet the criteria for being allowed to enter the Grand National. Among the qualifications they must:
Traditionally, the Grand National has been described as a 4½-mile race. The official distance, however, is four miles, two furlongs and 74 yards (4m 2f 74y). This distance is measured two yards inside the innermost rail. 
The Grand National is the longest jump race held in the UK.
About nine minutes. The record for the course is 8min 47.8sec, held by Mr Frisk in 1990. The jockey that day, Marcus Armytage, is now Telegraph Sport’s racing correspondent. 
There are 16 individual fences in the race, 14 of which are jumped twice. That makes a total of 30 jumps. 
The fences are made from Sitka spruce or Norway spruce, which is transported to Aintree from the Lake District in a fleet of lorries. It takes about three weeks to construct all the fences. 
The Aintree fences are not as perilous as they once were. However, they are still the most notorious obstacles in the business. 
The Chair (Fence 15): The Chair is the highest fence on the course, now standing at five foot two inches. 
Becher’s Brook (Fence 6&22): The sixth and 22nd fence in the race may not be the biggest, but its difficulty comes from the fact the landing side is 10 inches lower than the take-off side. Named after Captain Martin Becher, a jockey who fell at this stage in the first running of the race in 1839 and hid in the brook to avoid injury. 
Valentine’s Brook (Fence 9&25): Named after a horse that allegedly jumped it backwards in 1840. More likely, the horse spun around in mid-air to create the optical illusion that its hind legs landed first. 
Foinavon (Fence 7&23): One of the smaller fences is named after the 100/1 shot who avoided a disastrous pile-up here in 1967 and went on to win. 
Canal Turn (Fence 8&24): As the name suggests, horses must take a sharp turn to the left after jumping this five-foot obstacle. Another Aintree myth is that horses used who refused to turn ended up in the Liverpool and Leeds canal. 
The total prize fund for the Grand National is £1 million. In 2023, prize money was awarded to the first ten horses past the post, as follows.
The idea of the handicapping process is that less-fancied horses can compete with the best chasers. To achieve this, the top-rated horses are asked to carry extra weight. Exactly how much weight is determined by a handicapping formula, established by the British Horseracing Authority.
The least a horse is permitted to carry (including the jockey) is 10st 2lb. The top-weighted horse will carry 11st 12lb, with every other handicap weight worked out from that weight based upon each horse’s rating. Last year’s winner, Corach Rambler, was carrying just 10st 5lb. In 2015 Many Clouds won carrying 11st 9oz, the heaviest weight carried by a winner in recent history. The last horse to win carrying the top weight was Red Rum in 1973, when the top handicap was set at 12st.
Significant changes have been made to the Grand National for 2024. The alterations have been made after animal rights protesters ambushed the 2023 event, causing a delay of 15 minutes. However, the Jockey Club insists that the changes did not come as a direct response to those protests. 
The most significant changes are as follows:
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