However, some historians have unearthed evidence in recent years that suggests those three races were run over the same course at Aintree and were regarded as having been Grand Nationals up until the mid-1860s. Contemporary newspaper reports place all the 1836–38 races at Aintree although the 1839 race is the first described as "national". However, calls for the Nationals of 1836–1838 to be restored to the record books have been unsuccessful. In 1838 and 1839 three significant events occurred to transform the race from a small local affair to a national event. Firstly, the Great St. Albans Chase, which had clashed with the steeplechase at Aintree, was not renewed after 1838, leaving a major hole in the chasing calendar. Secondly, the railway, opened from Manchester to Liverpool in 1830, was linked to a line from London and Birmingham in 1839 enabling rail transport to the Liverpool area from large parts of the country for the first time. Finally, a committee was formed to better organise the event. These factors led to a more highly publicised race in 1839 which attracted a larger field of top quality horses and riders, greater press coverage, and increased attendance on race day. Over time the first three runnings of the event were quickly forgotten to secure the 1839 race its place in history as the first official Grand National. The 1839 race was won by rider Jem Mason on the aptly named, Lottery. The Duke was ridden by Martin Becher. The fence Becher's Brook is named after him and is where he fell in the race. By the 1840s, Lynn's ill-health blunted his enthusiasm for Aintree. Edward Topham, a respected handicapper and prominent member of Lynn's syndicate, began to exert greater influence over the National. He turned the chase into a handicap in 1843 after it had been a weight-for-age race for the first four years, and took over the land lease in 1848. One century later, the Topham family bought the course outright. Later in the century, the race was the setting of a thriller by the popular novelist Henry Hawley Smart. War National Steeplechase (1916–1918) For three years during the First World War, while Aintree Racecourse was taken over by the War Office, an alternative race was run at Gatwick Racecourse, a now disused course on land now occupied by Gatwick Airport. The first of these races, in 1916, was called the