Tags: Horse Race, Race.
The Grand National Handicap was an American Thoroughbred race horse first run in 1866 at the newly built Jerome Park Racetrack in Fordham New York. Open to horses age three and older the race was contested on dirt at a distance of 2¼ miles from inception through 1884. In the late 1880s there was a growing shortage of handicap horses and track officials shortened the race in an attempt to draw more entrants.