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| |  Friday, 5 April, 2002, 11:31 GMT 12:31 UK Aintree honours Queen Mother A minute's silence will be observed before the big race By BBC Sport Online's Frank Keogh at Aintree A special tribute will be paid to the Queen Mother before the Martell Grand National on Saturday. Two opera singers will join a military band at the Aintree course's water jump for a rendition of the National Anthem, watched by millions of TV viewers worldwide. A minute's silence will then be observed, immediately before the parade of runners for the big race in front of an expected racecourse crowd of 70,000. The Queen Mother, who died last Saturday aged 101, had strong links with the course. Her Grand National runner Devon Loch famously collapsed on the run-in while seeming certain to win the 1956 race.
All flags at the track have been flying at half-mast since the announcement of her death, and jockeys are wearing black armbands for every race at the three-day Grand National meeting. A minute's silence was arranged for Thursday and Friday while horses are at the post for the first race, with pictures of the Queen Mother being shown on TV sets around the course. Aintree managing director Charles Barnett told BBC Sport Online he was very moved by the reaction of a record crowd of more than 20,000 on the meeting's opening day. Fanfare "I can't believe there has been any occasion where one minute before the off, the bookmakers weren't screaming the odds. It was fantastic," he said. The Queen Mother Stand has a floral display and tribute at its entrance to mark her association with Aintree. "We've had a close association, and she graciously allowed us to name the Queen Mother Stand after her," said Barnett. On Saturday, the King's Division Waterloo Band will march down the course, and then the National Anthem will be sung by soprano Sally-Ann Shepherdson and tenor Khosrow Mahsoori. The minute's silence will be held immediately before a fanfare which precedes the parade of runners. | |
See also:  05 Apr 02 | Grand National 2002 04 Apr 02 | Grand National 2002 Top Grand National 2002 stories now: Links to more Grand National 2002 stories are at the foot of the page. | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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