Saturday's 2021 Grand National will go ahead as planned following the death of Prince Philip.
Buckingham Palace confirmed that the Duke of Edinburgh had passed away at the age of 99 on Friday, in a statement which read: "It is with deep sorrow that Her Majesty The Queen has announced the death of her beloved husband, His Royal Highness The Prince Philip, Duke of Edinburgh.
"His Royal Highness passed away peacefully this morning at Windsor Castle.”
ITV responded to news of The Duke's death by bringing This Morning to a swift end and crossing straight to a news special, which then forced Loose Women off air.
The rest of the afternoon had been set aside for continued coverage of horse racing from Aintree, in the run up to the Grand National, but this was moved to ITV4 and Prince Phillip's passing had some racing fans wondering if the famous race could be scrapped.
However, shortly after 3pm on Friday, organisers released a statement to confirm it would go ahead.
It read: "Jockey Club Racecourses has held discussions with the British Horseracing Authority regarding the staging of Randox Grand National Day tomorrow at Aintree Racecourse. Following consultation with government, we can confirm that Randox Grand National Day will go ahead on Saturday.
“Following the sad news of the death of the Duke of Edinburgh a two-minute silence will be held on course ahead of the 173rd Randox Grand National, jockeys will be invited to wear black armbands and flags will be flown at half-mast at the racecourse.
“ITV will broadcast its coverage of Randox Grand National Day on its main channel as scheduled.”
Racing coverage will start on ITV at 12.55pm on Saturday and run right through until 6.15pm before Celebrity Catchphrase and Vernon Kay's new show Game of Talents are due to air.
