In its 166-year history, the Grand National steeplechase has endured tragedy, cheating, animal rights protests, farcical false starts and a bomb scare that forced evacuation of the course and postponement of the race.
Now the National has a royal wedding to contend with.
The marriage of the heir to the throne, Prince Charles, to Camilla Parker Bowles was put back a day so it wouldn't clash with Friday's funeral of Pope John Paul II.
That means the wedding will be held Saturday on the same day as the world's most famous steeplechase. With the BBC committed to televising both the wedding and the National, the network persuaded race organizers to delay the start by 25 minutes so both events could be screened live.
A worldwide TV audience of 500 million is expected to watch the wedding but that figure could be beaten by the National, which is the BBC's most-watched sports event and usually attracts 600 million viewers.
The National even has strong royal connections.
Queen Elizabeth II's mother frequently attended the race in person. In 1956, Queen Mother Elizabeth watched as her horse, Devon Loch, take what appeared to be an insurmountable lead only to try to jump an imaginary fence and fall. ESB came from several lengths back to win.
The National -- first run in 1839 -- has had a colorful history.
In 1947, Caughoo beat 56 rivals at an Aintree course shrouded in thick fog. His jockey was later accused of going around the course only once instead of twice.
The race features a huge field of 40 taking on 30 tall fences in a grueling 7.2km chase around Aintree. Since World War II, 33 horses have died in the race. Animal rights activists regularly stage demonstrations to try and disrupt it.
In wet, muddy conditions four years ago, only two of the 40 starters managed to clear all the fences. Two more jockeys remounted and finished the race.
In 1967, a horse which had already unseated his rider ran in front of the rest of the field just before the 23rd fence and caused chaos, bringing many of them down. Foinavon, a 100-1 shot, managed to get around them all and was virtually unchallenged as he went on to become the longest odds winner in the history of the race.
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