WHAT a difference a 'd' makes.

By discarding one letter, the nation's favourite horse race becomes the Gran National. Galloping grannies will be racing against each other at Liverpool in April, negotiating a course featuring fun 'jumps'.

Sporting grans from the York area can enter the Yorkshire heats at Doncaster, where they will have to race 100metres with a hobbyhorse.

These days we are all being urged to keep fit and this imaginative spin on the Grand National should be welcomed.

Sadly, royal decorum dictates that one horse-mad grandmother will not be able to put herself forward for the race.

Updated: 11:27 Monday, March 14, 2005