THERE should be more champagne than usual flowing this Saturday at Alma de Cuba, the hot new Liverpool nightspot.

The restaurant and club — it was one of the city’s oldest churches until it was converted — will host a dinner for the winner of this year’s Grand National, the country’s most gruelling steeplechase.

The event, for which members of the public can buy tickets, has been organised by Aintree bosses in an effort to revive the spirit of what was once a regular National tradition, a banquet at Liverpool’s Adelphi hotel, with the winning owner hosting the top table.

The dinner at Alma de Cuba will not only mark the resurrection of an old tradition, it will also be the time when Aintree’s managing director, Julian Thick, will finally be able to relax, having spent the past 11 months since being appointed to the job preparing for the big event.

Executives at rival courses suggest that running Aintree and Cheltenham are the two most plum jobs in the industry, but the pressure of ensuring the whole event runs smoothly is immense. In an industry known for its conservatism, Thick, 37, will want to ensure his first Grand National at the Aintree helm is without any hiccups.

The big race is crucial to the economic success of the Liverpool course, accounting for about 90% of its total income, so ensuring the three-day meeting is successful is first, second and third on the list of priorities for the management.

Thick began his racing-industry career at the Liverpool circuit but then worked at several other courses before returning to Aintree last May. Despite the importance of the Grand National, he is working to reduce Aintree’s reliance on the race, which was first run in 1839.

It will not be altogether easy, argue industry bosses, who suggest that Aintree management will have their work cut out. For example, increasing the number of race days during the year is not as simple as it sounds.

“Regular racegoers are creatures of habit and it can be a long process trying to generate the additional attendances on the new race days,” said one. “You need to develop the quality of the racing. It’s slow-going but it can be done.”

This does not seem to have deterred Thick. He has added two extra meets at Aintree this year, taking its total number of race days to nine, up from seven last year (including the three days of the National meeting).

“Over the next three to four years I would like to expand that further,” he said. “There is a huge untapped market of racegoers and social visitors who would like to come racing in this area. Aintree can do a lot to grow racing in this area.”

For example, the track teamed up with nearby rival course Haydock Park to launch a “Northwest Masters” racing series, and Thick said there were more opportunities for this sort of co-operation.

Another innovation this year has been to introduce racing on a Friday evening, with pop concerts put on afterwards to attract a younger crowd who might not otherwise think of an evening’s racing as their preferred way to spend their leisure time.

Thick is also looking to develop the conference and events business, partly banking on Aintree’s strong selling point — that, as the home of Britain’s favourite horse race, it is a far more appealing venue than an anonymous hotel. But even this strategy has challenges, and fellow industry bosses suggest the key to running a succesful events business is to have non-racing folk overseeing this side of the operation.

In the meantime, all eyes are on the big race because the Grand National is essentially what keeps Aintree in business. Thick has been making sure that the race continues to live up to expectations.

“The meeting will be bigger and better than ever,” he said. “We have managed to raise the prize money to £800,000 for the big race, and the prize money for the whole meeting will be £2.5m, a 10% increase on last year.”

Attendances and hospitality — which account for the biggest slice of Aintree’s £12m annual turnover — are also expected to be ahead of last year.

Thick said that the track was attracting more people on the first day of the National meeting, the Thursday. Friday and Saturday are “near to capacity”.

It is a far cry from the dog days of the late 1970s and early 1980s, when the meeting was almost scrapped because of a lack of interest. In 1984, the total three-day crowd was 46,083. Last year, it had more than trebled to 144,304.

Aintree, which is one of 13 race tracks owned by the Jockey Club, alongside the likes of Cheltenham and Epsom, home of the Derby, has invested £35m on two new grandstands, and it is hoped that these will help to improve hospitality sales.

The new structures, opened in time for last year’s Grand National by Lord Daresbury, Aintree’s chairman, and Lord Derby, will save management having to organise temporary stands every year and trim £500,000 from the annual budget.

Thick said the course is not under any time pressure for the redevelopment to begin paying back, and it is not expected to deliver an economic return for 15 years. However, having invested heavily in the new stands, the racecourse will probably not embark on any large-scale projects for some time.

Another big slug of income, thought to be about £2m, comes from Scottish & Newcastle (S&N), the British brewing concern behind John Smith’s, the beer brand that sponsors the Grand National meeting.

This is the fourth year John Smith’s has had the deal, having renewed its contract until 2010 after its first three years proved a hit. A spokesman for the brewer said the company was “very happy” with the way the arrangement has shaped up.

What will happen when the current three-year deal expires remains somewhat up in the air, given the imminent takeover of S&N’s British operations by Heineken, although the group’s management is said to be keen to renew if possible.

Sponsorship talks are something that can wait for now. In the meantime, Aintree is hoping next weekend will go with a fizz.