Ironically, the year in which most horses completed the Grand National course was 1984, when a safety limit of 40 runners, which has remained in place ever since, was imposed for the first time. On March 31, 1984, on good going, the well-backed ten-year-old Hallo Dandy, trained by Gordon W. Richards and ridden by Neale Doughty, led home a total of 23 finishers, thereby setting a record which has yet to be beaten. In so doing, Hallo Dandy, who had finished fourth behind Corbiere, Greasepaint and Yer Man in the 1983 renewal of the Grand National, reversed the previous form with that trio, who finished third, second and seventeenth, respectively.
For the record, the horse who finished twenty-third, and last, of the finishers was the nine-year-old Canford Ginger, a 100/1 shot trained by David Elsworth and ridden by Colin Brown. Of the nine casualties on the first circuit, four horses fell at Becher’s Brook and two more at The Chair but, remarkably, 31 of the 40 starters headed out onto the second circuit. That said, the first open ditch put paid to the chances of Fortune Seeker, Kumbi and Pilot Officer, as it had to those of Golden Trix on the first circuit. Thereafter, though, the only faller was Imperial Black at Becher’s Brook and, while Burnt Oak and Silent Valley were pulled up late on, a record number of finishers was assured.
By contrast, the fewest number of finishers in the Grand National came in 1928, when 42 runners went to post but, on bottomless ground, all bar the eventual winner, the unconsidered 100/1 shot Tipperary Tim, failed to complete the course unscathed. The eventual second, Billy Barton, took a tired fall at the final fence, but was remounted – remounting horses after the start was not banned until November, 2009 – to complete the course, tailed off, but only two finished.