British Race Has Jump on Competition : Steeplechase: At 4 1/2 miles, Saturday’s Grand National will stress survival of the fittest.

“How did you find me?” Dick Francis asked on the phone from England.

This time of year, it isn’t difficult to find Francis, the former steeplechase jockey who is about half-finished writing his 32nd mystery novel. Since 1947, with the exception of one year, Francis has seen every running of the Grand National Steeplechase, that Liverpool spectacle that in many respects dwarfs America’s most famous race, the Kentucky Derby.

Francis, who lives in Florida, is staying at his son’s home in England, anticipating another visit to the Aintree Racecourse on Saturday for the 150th running of the Grand National.

At about 4 1/2 miles, the Grand National is more than three miles longer than the Derby; crowds of more than 200,000 are commonplace at Aintree, whereas the record at Churchill Downs is 163,000, and as many as 66 horses--43 more than the biggest Derby field--have run in the event. A field of 43 is expected Saturday.

They will run over a meandering course of 30 difficult jumps, with some of the fences more than five feet high. In 1928, Easter Hero swerved and ran along the dirt approach to a jump at the canal, a jutting, 90-degree turn the horses must negotiate. When Easter Hero finally jumped, he was caught straddling the fence, causing about 35 horses to either fall or be eliminated.

At one point, the course takes horses across a city road and back. The most devastating jump is at Becher’s Brook, named after a jockey who was unseated while his horse was winning the first race in 1839. Becher’s is a 4-foot 10-inch fence in front of a 5 1/2-foot-long pond.

“Going over Becher’s is like stepping off the edge of the world,” a Grand National jockey once said.

Besides establishing odds on horses to win the Grand National, England’s bookmakers post prices on whether each horse will complete the course.

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Animal rights groups have intermittently decried the Grand National, and the thicketed jumps and the $5-million grandstand, built in 1989, have been damaged by fire. Modifications have been made in the jumps, but horsemen insist that the race is not cruel to the horses and would not be the unique event it is if winning were not so difficult.

“If they alter the fences, they might just as well run the race at Sandown,” said Bruce Hobbs, who went on to train jumpers after he won the race as a 17-year-old rider with Battleship in 1938, becoming the youngest jockey to finish first.

Francis never won the Grand National, and in 1956, shortly before his retirement from riding, he appeared to be on a sure winner, Devon Loch, when the Queen Mother’s horse collapsed 50 yards from the finish.

“The horses love this race,” Francis said. “It’s a fair test, and it’s not as difficult as it used to be, since they changed the fences in 1960. Now the horses can’t get too close to the jumps before they’re required to jump, which has reduced the accidents. And the drop at Becher’s is not as severe as it used to be. If you have a good, bold horse under you, you don’t have to worry about him making the jumps.”

Theories about Devon Loch’s fall have been as bizarre as the incident itself. In Anne Holland’s book about the Grand National, someone suggested that the Irish-bred 10-year-old had eaten too much glucose and got a cramp. There was also speculation that the horse suffered a heart attack, but he was examined 10 minutes after the race by a veterinarian who could find no traces of one.

With a mile to run and only three jumps left, Francis had Devon Loch in second place. “Never have I felt such power in reserve, such confidence in my mount, such calm in my mind,” Francis said.

The two most logical theories about Devon Loch are that he was spooked by the noise from the crowd or he suffered from a shortage of oxygen.

Dave Dick, the jockey aboard ESB, who sidestepped the fallen Devon Loch to win the race, believed the oxygen theory. Dick said after the race that Devon Loch’s tongue appeared to be black when the horse and Francis flashed past ESB.

Francis said: “There was such a clap of noise as we headed for the finish. The horse had pricked his ears to look at the last jump, and that’s when the noise hit him. I never in my life have heard such a noise. The horse was owned by probably the most popular owner in the history of racing. There were 250,000 people there, and 249,999 had to be rooting for her and her horse.”

Devon Loch went on to win other races.

Taken to the Royal Family’s box after the race, a sheepish Dick was asked by the Queen Mother what he thought had happened to her horse.

“I was delighted, madam,” Dick unwittingly said.

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Red Rum is the only horse to win the Grand National three times--in 1973, ’74 and ‘77, when he was a 12-year-old. Red Rum, bought by his trainer, Ginger McCain, for less than $15,000, became the most versatile of horses, winning 27 races at distances from five furlongs to 4 1/2 miles. Trained by McCain at Southport, the seaside community north of Liverpool, Red Rum benefited from running on the beach, the saltwater helping his fragile ankles. He never fell in a race.

Red Rum, who is still alive, became a cottage industry for towels, blankets and other items that were sold with his name on them. In the late 1970s, a Japanese businessman made a $1-million offer for the gelding.

“Red Rum is not for sale to anyone at any time for any price,” said his owner, Noel Le Mare. “He stays with Ginger for life.”

Francis said that Party Politics, a long-striding horse, has a good chance of winning Saturday’s Grand National for the second consecutive year. The total purse is worth more than $300,000.

Party Politics is trained by Nick Gaselee, a former racing reporter for a London newspaper, and ridden by Carl Llewellyn, who suffered a broken collarbone in a spill a few weeks ago.