The long, wavering line—41 horses, with their boys in colored silks—broke suddenly and swept forward toward the first jump. They were over safely, hard to see against a patch of mist that touched the corner of the course. At Valentine's Brook, Sir Lindsay, John Hay Whitney's horse, was over first, with Shaun Goilin (pronounced Shahn Goy-lin), right after him. At the open ditch, Gate Book went down and Gregalach, one of the favorites since Easter Hero was scratched, screwed sideways in the air, landed clear but had to be pulled up. He was down before the end of the first round. They had gotten around once and Shaun Goilin was in front coming to Becher's Brook. He rose' wearily, barely clearing, and Melleray's Belle edged past, Sir Lindsay moved nearer. They took the last fence, Shaun Goilin still behind, Sir Lindsay starting for the wire, pulling up even with Melleray's Belle.
To a certain Mr. Midwood, standing among 250,000 people who spread like a dark fungus around the crooked oval that is the Aintree course, the moments between the last jump and the finish must have been trying. Mr. Midwood is a Liverpool cotton broker who never bets on horse races, who once paid $53,000 for Silvio to win the Grand National, but failed, and admits that he does not know the pedigree of Shaun Goilin, whom he calls "a thoroughly Irish horse." As he watched Sir Lindsay and Melleray's Belle moving away, Mr. Midwood may have questioned the merits of his horse's ancestry more seriously than ever before, and even the judgment of his jockey, the famed Tommy Cullinan of County Limerick, son of a sporting farmer, famed for his clever finishes and for leading with Billy Barton at the last fence in 1928. But Tommy Cullinan was moving up the straightaway with Shaun Goilin, and in the final sprint he passed Sir Lindsay, raced Melleray's Belle neck and neck in the last 100 yards, crossed the line a winner at 100 to 8. Melleray's Belle was second, Sir Lindsay third; far behind were Glangesia, Ballyhanwood. No others finished.
Shaun Goilin is an eccentric horse. He will not eat hay, oats, or bran when away from home, accepts only delicacies offered by a friend's hand. All he had to eat on the day of the race was an apple his trainer gave him on the way to the post.
¶ Most popular colors worn by the women in the crowd—mustard yellow, China blue, jade green.
¶ Among those present—The Dukes & Duchesses of Westminster and Marlborough, the Marquis Merry del Val, Lord Beatty. Lord & Lady Birkenhead, Mr. & Mrs. Winston Churchill.