Day 2 of Liverpool’s Grand National festival on Friday 2 April 1976 saw an all-jumping card for the first time, along with flat cards at Warwick and Teesside.
Daily Mirror – Friday 2 April 1976
BySteve
2 April 2026
Racing Mirror 02-04-76
BySteve
Steve Bradley is the man behind this project, an unashamedly nostalgic website dedicated to horse racing’s golden days of the past, featuring vintage racecards, clippings and news stories plucked from the newspapers of the day. A devotee of horse racing’s halcyon days from the 1960s to the 1990s, Steve caught the racing bug as a small boy living near Catterick racecourse, where he was lucky enough to see the great Red Rum in action in the 1970s. He has undertaken private research commissions for various figures within the racing industry. Away from racing he enjoys spending time with his retired greyhound, bar billiards, music, TV, films, reading and travel.
This confirmed something for me. I assumed that Aintree ceased flat racing the year before, but Thursday was actually a mixed card with just the 2 jumps races around the National course. I think this might have been the last of the flat racing, which was not missed. I see some early versions of the Anniversary Hurdle and the Maghull Novice Chase on the Friday card.