Star Pelaw resurrect the Grand National with a £10,000 first prize
Star Sports have announced that the Grand National will be staged at their Star Pelaw track in the autumn as part of a huge festival of racing.
The Grand National will return in October at Star Pelaw
After a two year hiatus, 2026 will see the return of the Grand National, with Star Pelaw the destination for the £10,000 to the winner Category One over the sticks.
Last run at Crayford over 540m in 2024, the track are looking to make this a three round competition starting with heats on October 10 and the final on October 24.
With hurdles runners at the track only coming from Ricky Holloway and Craig Marston to this point, it gives other trainers plenty of notice to get schooling anything that they feel could be worth a try over the hurdles.
Holloway is liable to have the red-hot favourite in Mickeys Tribute, the unbeaten track record holder who is seven races deep into his hurdling career. Holloway has trained the winner of the event on six occasions, including in four of the last five runnings.
Hurdles is something that Star are passionate about as Kim Sanzone, head of Greyhound Racing Operations for the company discussed with SIS. She said, "The jumps is something that both Ben Keith and I are very passionate about and we are very excited to be able to host this and have use of the beautiful perpetual trophy with the very kind permission of Roger Cearns."
The use of the trophy is a big coup for the track, with Cearns a huge advocate for hurdle racing himself down the years, with his Central Park hosting the event for a decade from 2012.
Star Pelaw are open to helping with the organisation of schooling trials, and anyone who is looking for any more info or to book in schooling, contact Dave Gray at the track.
