The race held Listed status until 2022 and was re-classified as a Premier Handicap from the 2023 running when Listed status was removed from handicap races.
During this period it would have been, assuming accurate measurements, by 24 yards or approximately the length of a cricket pitch, the longest race in the NH calendar.
It is now the second-longest race in the British calendar, after the Grand National at Aintree.
The 1977 winner Watafella finished third in the race but was promoted to first place after the first and second, No Scotch and Evander were disqualified after it was realised they failed to meet the conditions of the race, along with three other runners.
[3] The race was not covered on television in its early years but was shown by Channel 4 during the 1980s and up until 1998.