Famous Liverpool sporting stars including Sir Kenny Dalglish, Ian Rush and Natasha Jonas came together at an event to mark the countdown to this year's Grand National.
With the Aintree festival now just seven weeks away, more than 250 celebrities, local figures and racing’s elite come together for the annual Weights Lunch in the city's stunning St George's Hall. Racing legends Sir AP McCoy and Rachael Blackmore – who was the first ever female to win the race in 2022 onboard Minella Times - were among the guests who arrived to be greeted by 2012 Grand National winner Neptune Collonges.
The now 22-year-old was also joined by the Park Palace Ponies, who had walked from their base on Mill Street in Dingle to the city centre reception to welcome attendees.
READ MORE: Grand National 2023: dates, tickets and how to watch on TV
During the lunch, guests enjoyed a performance by Movema World Dance Charity, based in The Bluecoat, and Soprano Laura Wright – with music that was composed just for the event. Dancers were recruited from within the community to participate and had been training for over three months before the big day. They will perform again during the Grand National Festival, which takes place between April 13 and 15.
Dickon White, North West Regional Director at The Jockey Club, which includes Aintree Racecourse, said: “The annual Weights Lunch is a really important date in all of our diaries and is a time when some of racing’s most prominent figures travel to Liverpool to find out how much weight their horse will be carrying on the big day in April.
“Community is at the heart of everything we do at Aintree, and it is always an honour to work alongside some of Liverpool’s most passionate and creative people.
“The team at Movema have been working with Laura for months on this project, and it was incredible to finally see it come to life on stage and was loved by our guests.
“During the lunch we also revealed details about this year’s 41 st runner, little Frankie from the Wirral. We love supporting the work that Alder Hey Children’s Hospital do and we also look forward to bringing back the annual Grand National Jockey’s visit this year for the first time since Covid.”
Champion Trainer Willie Mullins was in attendance at the event, as were famous faces from across the sport including the recently retired Tom Scudamore, ITV pundit and Grand National winning jockey Ruby Walsh as well as his colleague from ITV Racing Ed Chamberlain, who hosted the event alongside model and presenter Rosie Tapner.
This year’s lunch revealed that Any Second Now, Conflated and Hewick will carry top-weight, shortly followed by last year’s winner Noble Yeats, who currently heads the betting. To find out more about this year’s Randox Grand National, visit www.thejockeyclub.com/aintree
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2023 Grand National: Full list of entries and weights for Aintree
