Remembering Red Rum

His unique achievement was to win the UK’s most famous – and notorious – steeplechase, the Grand National, three times and finish runner-up twice. Victory over the frightening fences of Aintree racecourse came in 1973, 1974 and 1977, with the seconds in ’75 and ’76.

Few imagined the like of this would ever be seen again and Red Rum went down in history as The Greatest.

However, amazingly, the monumental hat-trick might have been equalled this coming weekend if coronavirus hadn’t seen the 2020 Grand National cancelled. Tiger Roll won in 2018 and 2019 and was a short-price to “do a Red Rum” – albeit over jumps not quite as dangerous any more.

So, the great one’s record will stand for at least another 12 months. And, even if the marvellous Tiger Roll pulls it off next year, he is unlikely to ever quite match the legend of Red Rum.

The Brits love what they call “national treasures” – distinguished people, animals, places and things – and there have been few treasures the equal of Red Rum. He became even more famous and popular after his retirement from the racetrack thanks to the many public occasions he attended as guest of honour.

He regularly opened fetes, charity drives and new betting shops and loved the public attention.

All over Britain there are pubs called The Red Rum, which he graced in person – for a small fee, naturally – often entering the barroom itself to cheers and a thousand pats.

He cut the ribbon at the opening of The Steeplechase roller-coaster in Blackpool and also switched on that city’s famous Christmas lights. The 1977 Sports Personality of the Year awards saw him in a BBC TV studio, calmly accepted plaudits.

Donald McCain, son of Red Rum’s long-time trainer Ginger, recalls: “When Red Rum went for a walk round town he would go sideways down the high street because he knew people were watching him. He was a big show-off.”

That town was Southport, where Ginger McCain had a car dealership and trained a small string of horses out-back on the beach.

But it was on the track where Red Rum showed off his true character, McCain junior reminded us in an interview with Racing Post.

“The Grand National is the toughest test of the thoroughbred. Red Rum lived for jumping those big fences at Aintree. It was the only thing towards the end of his career which lit him up,” said McCain.

“He was like a cat and never looked like falling in five Grand Nationals … his jumping was so measured and accurate.”

When Red Rum died in 1995 it was front-page news in all the newspapers. He was buried beside the Aintree winning post.

Earlier this past week, a “Grand National” of the unluckiest losers of the race down the years was staged, using algorithms and hi-tech gadgetry. The winner? Crisp, who, in 1973, was 20 lengths clear of Red Rum at the final fence but just failed to hold off the most determined of finishing charges.

A similar stunt will be performed on Saturday 4 April, at exactly the time the 2020 race would have been contested – with a field of this year’s most likely runners battling it out live on TV thanks to CGI wizardry. There’s even betting on it, with bookmakers donating all their profits to horse charities.

Tiger Roll can’t be beat, of course.

What we’d like to have seen was Red Rum in the field.

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