1987 Grand National
| Grand National | |
| Location | Aintree Racecourse |
|---|---|
| Date | 4 April 1987 |
| Winning horse |
 Maori Venture
|
| Starting price | 28/1 |
| Jockey |
 Steve Knight |
| Trainer |
Andrew Turnell |
| Owner |
 Jim Joel |
| Conditions | Good |
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 Replay of the 1987 Grand National in full YouTube |
The 1987 Grand National (known as the Seagram Grand National for sponsorship reasons) was the 141st renewal of the world-famous Grand National horse race that took place at Aintree Racecourse near Liverpool, England, on 4 April 1987.
The race was won in a time on nine minutes 19.3 seconds and by a distance of five lengths by the 28/1 each way chance, Maori Venture who provided jockey Steve Knight with his second Grand National ride. The winner was trained in East Hendred, Oxfordshire by Andy Turnell and ran in the black jacket and scarlet cap of his nonagenarian owner, Jim Joel who collected a £64,000 prize.
The maximum allowed field of forty runners took part in the race in which twenty-two completed the course however the well favoured grey, Dark Ivy was killed in a fall during the race.
Eighty nine horses had entered the race with forty-three declared to run, however the maximum starter rule meant that three of the horses from outside the handicap, Doubleuagain, Hill of Slain and Leney Duel were balloted out of the race. Just eleven of the runners were considered of a high enough quality to run with a weight handicap. This was even after the late but expected withdrawal of the recent Cheltenham Gold Cup Champion, The Thinker. That left last year's winner, West Tip as the top weighted competitor of the eleven given a handicap mark, though the actual to weight of 12 stones was given to the American and Czech entries, Bewley's Hill and Valencio as they had not raced enough in the UK or Ireland to warrant a rating. The public installed him as ante post favourite at a very early stage, despite being burdened with 10 lbs more than in victory the previous year and had been impressive when finishing fourth behind The Thinker at Cheltenham. At the off he was down to 5/1 and was partnered, as in his two previous Nationals by Richard Dunwoody.
The grey, Dark Ivy had come from Ireland to race in Britain this year with impressive results, notching up six victories before being beaten second in the Tote Eider Chase at Newcastle. As one of the many on the minimum weight he stood out as the form horse and was already heavily backed before coming to the attention of the once a year punters on the day. described as the housewives choice, he was sent off at 11/2 in the charge of Phil Tuck. At 9/1 Classified was another who attracted public attention on the back of a good performance in the National, when third behind West Tip last year. However the pair would meet this time with Classified on the same weight as last year and in the company of the jointly most experienced rider in the race, Steve Smith Eccles, taking his eighth ride in the race.
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