Evening star., 1951-04-07
Royal Tan Is Second,
DerrinstoWn Gets Up
And Finishes Third
By the Assoeioted Press

AINTREE, England, April IA
9-year-old mare named Nickel
Com. at 40 to l. won the l05th
running of the Grand National
Steeplechase today when all but
two OF the SO starters fell in a fan
tastic race before a crowd of ESQ.,
900 persons.
Royal Tan, an Irish sleeper" !"
ran second at % to /. Derrinstown.
another Irish horse, fell but was
remounted and finishd third.
The winner scored by six
lengths. Derrinstown. Sc to /. was
nearly $50 yards behind Royal
Tan. The going was soft after
early-morning showers and hail.
Arctic Gold Falls Early.
Among the early casualties was
Arctic Gold, which started as the
favorite at 8 to /. went down be-
fore the race was half over.
Freebooter, winner last year,
and Russian Hero. which took
the 1949 race, also went down as
horses were strewn all over the
4-mile -856-yard course with
its 80 stiff jumps.
Nickel Coin and Royal Tan
were the last two horses still on
their feet six fences from home,
and raced as though wired to-
gether over the last three jumps.
They came into the stretch neck
and neck, but at this point
Nickel Coin started to draw away
rapidly.
The Grand National is run
over two circuits of the track.
and by the time they had been
around once, only five Of the 36
starters still were on their feet.
They were the three finishers.
Gay Heather and Broomf1eld.
The running time was 8
472s seconds, compared
with the record of 9:202s set by
Golden Miller in 1884 and equaled
in 1910 by Bogskar. Freebooter's
time a year ago was 9:233s.
Arctic Gold, a 6-year-old, had
taken the lead from Caesars Wife
and Rowland Roy at the sixth
fence-Becher's Brook-the first
time around. But the Whitney
horse went down two jumps later
at the treacherous Canal Turn.
Whitney, who flew here from
New York for the race, almost
won it in 1929 when his Easter
Hero cut his foreleg and finished
second to Gregalach. Easter Hero
was the favorite then, too.
Nickel Coin was bought by
Frank Royle eight years ago. when
she was yearling, for SO guineas
($154. He sold her two years
later for 1882. When she was a
5-year -old, he caught her in a
selling race and bought her back
again.
Up to that time. the mare was
q fiat racer and show horse, and
won five blue ribbons in the show
jumping field. She didn't start
racing over fences until 1948.
The victory today was worth
$23,744. She was ridden by j. A.
Bullock.
Nickel Coin was the 18th mare
to win the Grand National and
only the second in 49 years. The
last was Sheila's Cottage, which
came in at so to l in 1948.
The winner, by Pay Up-Viscum.
carried 141 pounds, only pound
more than the minimum for the
race. Royal Tan carried 153
pounds.
The Grand National has formed
the basis for the Irish Hospital
Sweepstakes since 1881.
Two Finished in 1928.
The weather conditions played
a part in making Arctic Gold the
starting favorite. Shagreen, all
other Irish-bred owned by James
v. Rank, millionaire -four miller,
was the overnight choice at II to
2, with the American-owned horse
second at 9 to /. But many in the
huge crowd figured that Shagreen
a fast track for his best
effort.
Today's race was reminiscent of
the 1928 Grand National, won by
Tipperary Tim, a 100-to-1 shot,
with the Maryland-bred Billy
Barton second. Billy Barton led
to the last Jump, then made a bad
landing and threw his rider. The
Jockey remounted and finished
second. None of the others in the
field of AZ was able to finish.