THE CHAMPAGNE is chilled, the flowers in place and the hay is in the stables for the new look Grand National meeting.
Racegoers to the three day event will see Aintree’s £35m development open for the first time.
Including two new stands, the Earl of Derby and the Lord Sefton, and extra standing areas the new facilities will allow an extra 11,000 punters through the gates.
As staff made their last minute preparations for today’s opening races there was a VIP tour of the course for some well known faces yesterday.
Oscar-nominated movie star Clive Owen was the first of many celebrities expected to be at Aintree during the next few days.
The 42-year-old Reds fan was combining a visit to the racecourse with a chance to watch Liverpool play PSV Eindhoven at Anfield.
He said: “I’m having a fantastic week – I watched Man- chester United last night, I’m going to Anfield tonight and I’m back here on Saturday.”
Both Owen and TV’s Peak Practice star Gary Mavers, who was with him, are backing JP McManus’s horse L’Ami to win the world’s most famous steeplechase.
Today the meeting gets underway with the £150,000 Betfair Bowl, and spectators have a chance to see the Grand National fences in the John Smith’s Fox Hunters’ Chase, run over a mile by amateur riders.
Britain’s biggest bookie predicts £250m will have been bet on the National by 4.15pm on Saturday
