Thousands attend Grand National festival's first day

Dresses, suits and sunshine lit up Aintree as thousands of racegoers arrived to take in the first day of the famous Grand National festival.

More than 150,000 people are due to attend the three-day event, which culminates on Saturday when the showpiece steeplechase race is run.

Crowds basked in bright spring weather for the festival's opening day, with an expected attendance of about 23,000.

Among those arriving was the Princess Royal, who attended a lunch held by charity Racing Welfare, of which she is president, before watching the first race.

Regulars Kayla Jones, 31, from Wavertree, Liverpool, and Kaci-Lea Lynch, 22, from Huyton, Knowsley, were among the crowds.

Ms Lynch said: "It's always a good atmosphere, everyone goes wild and there is good energy.

"The sun is shining and the weather makes a lot of difference."

Katie Young, 32, from Kildare in Ireland, wore a lilac dress and floral headpiece with a white coat for the races while supporting her partner, jockey Mark Walsh.

She said: "The atmosphere is just completely different at Aintree, it's more relaxed and everyone's here to have a good time.

"It's kind of hard to plan an outfit because of the weather - I tend to have two ready. The weather is warm so this dress came out."

Amanda and Stuart Coakley, both 58, originally from Ellesmere Port in Cheshire, were there for birthday celebrations wearing co-ordinated gold and cream outfits, including hats with feathers.

Mr Coakley said their outfits would be "even bigger" for Ladies Day on Friday.

"We just love the atmosphere, love Liverpool and love the people. It's got a real buzz," Mrs Coakley added.

Security measures were in place, including a flight restriction zone to stop drones, sniffer dogs and drug amnesty bins at entrances, with racegoers searched as they enter.

Two years ago, animal rights protesters delayed the Grand National by 15 minutes.

Last year, race safety changes included an earlier 16:00 BST start and saw the highest number of horses finishing since 1992.

Earlier, there was one horse fatality when Willy De Houelle, ridden by former Grand National winner Rachel Blackmore, fell in the second race of the day.

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