Few sporting events make for more spectacular action photography than the Grand National at Aintree and Horse & Hound made full use of that in it its 6 April 1963 issue as the field looked to negotiate the giant Becher’s Brook on the first circuit.
The eventual winner, Ayala, ridden by Pat Buckley, was already making a charge for it in the foreground of the picture as most of the field was thankfully getting over the jump unscathed.
Ayala actually grabbed the win in the final few strides, as John Lawrence, riding runner-up Carrickbeg, recounted in the magazine.
“There are 494 yards between the last fence and the winning post in the Grand National at Aintree – and for about 480 of them, I was, last Saturday afternoon, the happiest man in the world. But the last battle is the only one to count – and for that, for those final ghastly 14 yards, Carrickbeg and I had nothing left. So there, in a split second, the dream of glory became a nightmare and Pat Buckley swept past on Mr. P.B. Raymond’s Ayala to win the great steeplechase.”
You can find more of Lawrence’s analysis of the race here.
