Paul McCartney has had a love for animals from an early age, he’s grown up around them, owned them, and even written songs about them.

In 1964 Paul McCartney bought a racehorse named Drake’s Drum for his father Jim. Drake’s Drum cost Paul £1,200 and Paul gave him to his father for his 62nd birthday. Paul told his father about his present on the night of the A Hard Day’s Nightpremiere, Paul later said about his father, “My father likes a flutter – he is one of the world’s greatest armchair punters.”

Perhaps Drake’s Drum greatest moment came at Liverpool’s Aintree Racecourse when he won the Hylton Plate, the race that preceded the famous Grand National. Both Paul and Jim were there that day. After Drake’s Drum’s racing career was over, he retired on Paul’s High Park Farm in Scotland.

This year Aintree Racecourse and the Beatles Story are joining forces to offer The Crabbie’s Grand National fans the opportunity to experience two of the region’s most exciting cultural offerings with a single pass the ‘Ticket to Ride’.

The combination pass is valid for the Beatles Story between March 31st and April 6th and can be used across one of the three Grand National days between April 3rd and April 5th.

Drake’s Drum is a snare drum that Sir Francis Drake took with him when he circumnavigated the world.  Shortly before he died he ordered the drum to be taken to Buckland Abbey, where it still is today, and vowed that if  England was ever in danger someone was to beat the drum and he would return to defend the country.  According to legend it can be heard to beat at times when England is at war or significant national events take place.