[1] The race was won in a time of 10 minutes 6.9 seconds and by a distance of 7 lengths by Irish 12-year-old Little Polveir, ridden by jockey Jimmy Frost.

[3] Jockey Frost's son, Hadden, attempted to emulate his father's victory 22 years later by riding Calgary Bay in the 2011 Grand National; he fell at the fourth fence.

[6] Morgan, having his fifth ride in the Grand National, took the favourite to the front going to Becher's Brook for the first time, only to crumple on landing and exit the contest.

Dixton House only ever returned to a racecourse once more, in January 1990, when he pulled up lame and was subsequently retired[7] while Morgan also never raced in the National again.

Durham Edition had been prepared by trainer Arthur Stephenson specifically with the Grand National in mind after his second-place finish the previous year.

When asked to quicken however, Grant found his mount to be a spent force and instead of closing on the leader he was swallowed up by other stronger finishers, coming home in fifth place.

Bonanza Boy had won the Welsh Grand National at Chepstow four months earlier[9] before going on to win the Racing Post Chase in even more impressive style.

Bonanza Boy returned to Chepstow eight months later to retain his Welsh National crown[13] before embarking on another attempt at Aintree.

The Thinker was bidding to be only the third Cheltenham Gold Cup winner in history to complete the Grand National double, having been crowned the Champion Chaser in 1987.

Others widely supported on the day were 1986 Welsh National winner, Stearsby at 14/1, Lastofthebrownies and Perris Valley at 16/1, the latter of which provided Brendan Sheridan with the best fancied ride of the sixteen jockeys making their debut in the race.

[17] This would be the horse's fourth, and surely final attempt at a race he had completed in tenth place in 1987 before falling in each of the last two Nationals, the latter of which had seen him leading when unseating his rider five fences from the finish.

The BBC broadcast the race live on television for the thirtieth consecutive year as part of its regular Saturday afternoon Grandstand programme, in a Grand National special.

The television commentary team was unchanged for the eighteenth consecutive year in John Hanmer, Julian Wilson and lead commentator, Peter O'Sullevan who was calling his forty-fourth Grand National.

[21] The BBC, and in particular Julian Wilson and Richard Pitman came in for heavy criticism from the general public for their handling of an incident at Becher's Brook on the first circuit which left two horses having to be euthanised.

In response Aintree made several changes to Becher's, including levelling-off the slope on the landing side and raising the brook itself to contain only one inch of water.

Security on the course was also tightened after another incident in the later stages of the race where a group of intoxicated youths ran onto the course and were seen to be playing chicken with the runners as they turned towards the second last fence.

On viewing a playback of the race, champion jockey Peter Scudamore was scathing in his criticism when he stated "I like David Pitcher.