IT is Randox Grand National day. The race is one that every woman and man on the street has heard about, and the worldwide audience for it runs into hundreds of millions. It is mindboggling to imagine that.

While I was doing a radio interview yesterday, I became aware of my own deep love for the race, its tradition, a family association with a winner, and how passionate I was becoming as I recalled tales of great wins, dramatic losses, and magnificent anecdotes. The Melbourne Cup may be the race that stops a nation, but the Aintree centrepiece is the race that captures the imagination of the world.