It may be a bumper sporting weekend, but 32 horses will set out at 3.45 this afternoon to prove that the Aintree Grand National remains racing's greatest shop window.
The Gold Cup at Cheltenham or the Derby at Epsom may have the quality, but the sight of steeplechasers trying to traverse the four-and-a-half miles and 30 fences of the National continues to grip the public imagination.
An estimated 480 million people worldwide will tune in on television for today's big race, an awesome figure considering that this has always been regarded as a slogger's marathon ever since it was first run in 1839.
Almost £5 million will be bet in Ireland alone on the race which everyone has an opinion on.
The National, though, has always been about more than discovering the best horse. Aintree's greatest legend, the three-time National winner Red Rum, who is buried by the winning post, was vastly inferior to the best of his generation, but the unique Aintree demands were meat and drink to him.
In recent years, however, the National has also been about controversy. Farcical false starts and ominous IRA bomb scares may have deepened the wider public's interest in a horse race on the outskirts of Liverpool even more, but it has resulted in a security headache.
There are 60 airport-type scanners that the expected 55,000 crowd entering the track will have to walk through, and their bags will be searched. Cars entering the vast grounds will also be searched.
The security arrangements of the Merseyside police have been planned since last year's Grand National, and the police commander said yesterday she was confident that they had contingency plans for any eventuality.
"So far this Aintree has been very quiet and everybody should feel safe and have a good time," said Supt Sue Sims. "Everything has been constantly reviewed since last year, because there will be a worldwide audience of 480 million watching and we want them to see Merseyside at its best."
Any disruption this year would be a disaster for bookmakers who are anticipating their biggest betting weekend ever. With the US Masters golf, the Brazilian Grand Prix, the Five Nations rugby and the English FA Cup semi-finals also on, the William Hill spokesman, Graham Sharpe, said yesterday: "I can see betting turnover hitting an unprecedented £100 million over one weekend for the first time ever, but the Grand National always produces the biggest betting turnover of the year."
The ubiquitous "housewife's choice" this year will be Nahthen Lad, a final Grand National runner for Jenny Pitman who retires at the end of this season after a career which included winning the National not only with Corbiere (1983) and Royal Athlete (1995), but also the infamous void race with Esha Ness in 1993.
The outsiders Bobbyjo and Merry People are the Irish hopes to give Ireland a 10th Grand National this century, but although Double Thriller is a warm favourite at 7 to 2, there is always hope in the National. Only 11 favourites have won in the last 100 years.
