At the races: How to fall off at the Grand National

Every year in early April nurses at Walton Hospital in Liverpool would routinely book a bed for a certain patient. His name was Beltran de Osorio y Diez de Riviera, the 18th Duke of Alburquerque, and he was bonkers.

Obsessed might be a politer word.

Aged eight, this Grandee of Spain saw a film about the Grand National, Britain's famous steeplechase, and resolved to win the gruelling, dangerous race. He tried valiantly, but all attempts ended in failure - and often in bad injury.

By his own count he broke 107 bones in his many tumbles from horses in the Grand National between 1952 and 1977; he became a cheerful regular at Walton Hospital.

The worst was in 1976, at age 56, when he fell, was trampled by horses and suffered breaks to seven ribs, several vertebrae, a wrist and a thigh, along with concussion and a two-day coma.

Officials intervened the following year, revoking his amateur riding licence "for his own safety". By then he'd become known as "the Iron Duke" due to the metal rods and bolts holding him together.

Bookies would lay odds of 100-1 on him winning and 66-1 on him safely getting around the 7000m and 40 jumps of the Aintree circuit. He did finish on occasion - once even claiming a glorious eighth place behind Red Rum.

An anecdote from that momentous race has him barging into another horse and rider on the second lap. The startled jockey yelled: "What the **** are you doing?", to which the duke replied: "My dear chap, I haven't a clue. I've never got this far before."

Those mad days of Corinthian dreamers in the Grand National are long gone and the event has been toned down due to animal rights activism and Britain's health and safety worries.

The jumps in tomorrow's 169th running of the race are significantly lower than in the days of Red Rum and the duke, the birch fences are more forgiving and landing areas safer. Only well-qualified riders get to the starting tapes.

But it's still a helluva spectacle, the "People's Race", in which just about every Pommy has a flutter and the betting pool soars to £500-million. Awesome obstacles - Beecher's Brook and The Chair - are still there to provide "the ultimate test of horse and rider".

The excitement of the physical challenge can only be greater if you have a punt on the race. Long shots are the norm, so returns can be tidy. The last four winners were at 33-1, 66-1, 25-1 and 25-1.

On the local front, the top-liners are at Greyville tonight: The Byerley Turk, a Grade 3 1400m dash for three-year-olds, and the equivalent for the girls, the Umzimkhulu Stakes.

They raise the curtain on the KwaZulu-Natal winter season and a number of visitors from the Cape are having their pipe-openers.

If not for his draw in downtown Durbs, Baritone would look the likely victor. But from gate 13, trainer Justin Snaith's four-time winner might be stretched by some talented opponents.

Victorious Jay has also shown some class and will be the choice of most pundits, with Sylvester The Cat another in the calculations.