Grand National Horses | Grand National Free Bets Grand National Betting Tips Famous UK Grand National Horses The Grand National has produced a wonderful array of stories throughout its illustrious history including some pretty memorable jockeys, trainers and more importantly Grand National horses. Here ' Grand National Free Bets ' looks at possibly the most remarkable horses ever to grace the Aintree. Red Rum It was over 30 years ago now that Red Rum recorded the first of the three victories in the Grand National that earned him pride of place in the record books forever. He still remains the only horse to have won the Grand National three times and, as that statistic suggests, the great horse was a phenomenon. Bred to be a sprinter, Red Rum went on to win the gruelling four-and-a-half mile chase in 1973, 1974 and 1977, overcoming a potentially crippling foot disease in doing so. On March 31, 1973, he started 9/1 favourite for his first Grand National.

However, by the time the runners had reached the Chair the giant Australian chaser, Crisp, who was shouldering top weight of 12st, had built up a massive lead and appeared unstoppable. But, conceding 23lb to Red Rum, he slowly began to falter at the famous Elbow after being more than 15 lengths in front of his rival at the last. Red Rum wore Crisp down, getting up on the line to beat him by three-quarters of a length in a then record time of 9 min 1.9 sec, knocking nearly 20 seconds off Golden Miller's previous best under 12st 2lb in 1934 - this new record would stand for the next 16 years. Red Rum won four more races before collecting his second Grand National, this time carrying the maximum weight of 12st. Giving 1lb to the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, L'Escargot, Red Rum started third favourite at 11/1, racing off a mark nearly two stone higher than for his 1973 victory. He was the first to achieve the double since Reynoldstown in 1936.

Only three weeks later, Red Rum won the Scottish Grand National as the 11/8 favourite under 11st 13lb. It was then presumed that, having reached a zenith, Red Rum's talent would gradually decline in keeping with the rolling years. Between the autumn of 1974 and the spring of 1976, he ran in 18 chases, winning twice and being placed seven times. But he also gallantly failed to resist first L'Escargot and then Rag Trade in the 1975 and 1976 Grand Nationals. Red Rum died on Wednesday, October 18, 1995 and was buried by the winning post on Aintree's Grand National course. His grave is marked by an engraved stone listing his Grand National record, and a life-size bronze commemorates this legendary horse, along with a race staged at Aintree's Festival Meeting, the Red Rum Chase, named in the great horse's memory. Aldaniti There was hardly a dry eye among the crowd when Aldaniti won the Grand National in 1981. It was a victory for both courage and determination in the face of adversity.

In late 1979, Bob Champion, the successful jockey, was told that he had cancer and only months to live, while Aldaniti had almost been retired because of leg trouble. Against all the odds, the gallant partnership held on to beat Spartan Missile, ridden by John Thorne, a 54-year-old grandfather and amateur rider. The winner's true-life story inspired the 1983 film Champions, starring John Hurt. Aldaniti died at the age of 27 in March, 1997. Bob Champion made a full recovery and, with the help of Aldaniti, has raised millions of pounds for cancer research. Aldaniti's name was a jumble from the names of four grandchildren of his breeder, Tommy Barron: Alastair and David Cook plus Nicola and Timothy Barron. The Pitmans The Pitman family has a special association with the Grand National. In 1983, Jenny Pitman became the first woman to train a winner of the race when Corbiere beat Greasepaint.

She followed up this victory in 1995 with Royal Athlete who succeeded at the long odds of 40/1, but experienced heartbreak when Esha Ness "won" the 1993 void race. Mark, her son, must have gone through similar emotions when he was caught by Seagram when riding Garrison Savannah in 1991, also trained by his mother. Years earlier, Richard Pitman, then-husband to Jenny and Mark's father, was caught even closer to the winning post by Red Rum, the Aintree specialist, when he partnered the gallant top weight Crisp in 1973. Mrs Pitman was awarded an OBE in the 1998 New Year's Honours List and in the same year fought a successful battle against cancer. She has now retired from training but Mark Pitman is carrying on the family tradition. Devon Loch The 1956 National is remembered more for the defeat of Devon Loch than for the victory of E.S.B.

Owned by Her Majesty The Queen Mother, Devon Loch had the race won when he inexplicably gave a half-leap just 50 yards from the finish, sprawling and unseating Dick Francis, the unfortunate jockey, and leaving the crowd stunned. Afterwards, The Queen Mother famously said "That's racing". Debate still rages as to why the incident happened - according to some reports, Devon Loch suffered a cramp in the hindquarters and this caused the collapse. However, other reports claim that a shadow thrown by the water jump (which horses only jump on the first circuit of the Aintree course) may have confused Devon Loch into thinking another jump was required and - confused as to whether he should jump or not - he half-jumped and collapsed. Reports that the horse had suffered a heart attack were dismissed, as Devon Loch recovered far too quickly for this to have been the case. Whatever the truth, the incident so puzzled Francis that he became a thriller writer, inventing mysteries himself. Over the decades Francis has learned to be as philosophical. In compensation, his wife Mary once said that had he won the Grand National there would have been no bestselling autobiography and no thrillers.

"As I said in my autobiography, an ambulance came by and the driver said, ‘Jump in the back!’ I was never more pleased to get away from all the people who were rushing towards me." What happened? "I’ve thought about it time and time again...I remember jumping the last fence and I could hear the crescendo of cheering building up in the stands. There were 500,000 people there that day. They were all cheering for the Queen Mother. She was there and the Queen was there and Princess Margaret was there. I never thought about it at the time but I heard them cheering and I just rode to the finish. I was winning easily. I didn’t have to pick up my stick or anything like that. I’ve looked at the newsreel time and again and as the horse approaches the water jump – which this time round he didn’t need to cross – you can see him prick up his ears and gallop past it. As it pricked up its ears – Christ! – his hindquarters refused to act and down he went on to his belly.

How I didn’t fall off him I don’t know." Foinavon Foinavon sensationally won the 1967 National in bizarre circumstances. At the smallest fence on the second circuit, the 23rd, the riderless Popham Down cut right across the course causing a pile-up that almost brought the entire field to a standstill. John Buckingham, Foinavon's jockey, was able to steer his mount wide of the melee and thus won on the 100/1 outsider. The Aintree executive named the fence in honour of the horse. Fence 7 or 23 (depending on the circuit), at 4ft 6in, one of the smallest jumps on the course, is situated between the more daunting Becher's Brook and Canal Turn. Foinavon has sometimes been likened to a slow plodding carthorse, but records show that his 1967 winning time was one of the fastest in this gruelling race.

Equally, this so called no-hoper had taken part in some top class races before attempting the National and he had finished fourth in a King George and took part in a Gold Cup at Cheltenham, so perhaps his odds of 100/1 may have been a bit generous (although the Tote SP was 444/1). Nevertheless, his owner was so unenthusiastic about his chances that he was not even at Aintree for the race. Buckingham said later that at the time he did not realize that they were the only pair to jump the fence at the first attempt but he just kept going. Although some 17 horses remounted and finished the race the distance Foinavon had "stolen" at the fence meant that he lead over the final seven fences to go on to collect his prize, 15 lengths clear of the fast-closing favourite, Honey End and Red Alligator. JockeySite.com Red Rum "The Aintree Legend", Aintree.co.uk It was almost 30 years ago that Red Rum won the first of the three races in the Grand National that earned him pride of place in the record books forever.

He still remains the only horse to have won the Grand National three times, in the world famous chase at Aintree and as that statistic suggests, the great horse was a phenomenon. Bred to be a sprinter, out of a dam who was, frankly, a bit barmy, Red Rum went on to win the gruelling four and a half mile chase in 1973, 1974 and 1977, overcoming a potentially crippling foot disease. He was sold for 400 Guineas as a yearling, yet an offer of Usd 1,000,000 was declined for him as a 13 year old, by which time Tommy Stack had every right to call him "The Aintree Horse". But the story of Red Rum's life is as strange as the best of fairytales. Red Rum's achievements are the epitome of all that makes nature laugh in the face of man's attempts at playing God.

Martyn McEnery wanted to breed an inexpensive, precocious, sprinting two year old, but instead the bemused County Kilkenny-based breeder produced the three times winner of the most arduous steeplechase in the world. At his Rossenarra Stud, McEnery chose to mate his temperamental mare, Mared, with a local stallion called Quorum in the spring of 1964, for no better reason than friends of the family owned the sire. Mared had previously been branded unraceable by trainer Phonnsie O'Brien who returned the excitable filly to McEnery as a two year old. But McEnery produced Mared to win a seven furlong race at Galway - her sole success in five starts - despite having to drench her with a bucket of water to remove the froth of sweat she worked up before even entering the parade ring. First Entry Win An average-sized bay colt was foaled on May 3, 1965, at 6 pm. A pleased McEnery expected to make a tidy profit when coming to sell him at Goffs September Sales, but fate again took a hand.

The Mared colt appeared to walk stiffly behind when led into the ring to be sold, and when Tim Molony bid 400 Guineas, McEnery reluctantly allowed him to go. Molony attended the sales armed with pinpoint instructions from Maurice Kingsley, for whom he had ridden the three times winner of the Champion Hurdle, Sir Ken. Now a trainer himself, Molony was to buy for Kingsley, who was fond of gambling on his horses, an animal to win the two year old seller at Liverpool the following March. Red Rum duly obliged.Ridden by Paul Cook, he dead-heated with Curlicue, also bred by McEnery, and sold only two lots after Red Rum. In the closing stages Red Rum had made rapid strides to catch Curlicue right on the line, going in front a stride past the post, and Molony was convinced that, given less to do early on, Red Rum would have won outright. That day, Molony had to go to 300 Guineas to buy the juvenile back, the price being forced upwards from an unknown quarter.

Donald "Ginger" McCain was present at Aintree to witness the subsequent sale, but he was seeking jumpers, not a sprinter, and he walked away from the horse that would bring him fame six years later, long before the bidding began. Red Rum had been gelded after the sales and broken in patiently, with all the care that a great horseman such as Molony devotes to a young horse as a matter of course. Aged only 20 months, he had been named by Kingsley just before New Year's Day of 1967 when all yearlings officially became two year olds; his owner took the last three letters from the names of his dam and sire, Ma-red and Quorum, to produce the now-household name. Extraordinary Resilience Red Rum ran in that first selling race before he was fully two years of age and remained in training semi-constantly for the next 11 years. It is testimony to Red Rum's extraordinary resilience that, trained to draw on his supposed precocity but then asked to continue racing until he was 13, he never lost his enthusiasm. He was busy during his career, especially when his talents were not deemed to be extraordinary.

Tommy Stack, who rode Red Rum 43 times and briefly trained him, thought him "disappointing" in his early days and often handled the horse accordingly in a race - "driven out", "hard ridden", Chaseform consistently reported. Red Rum won again as a two year old and finished in the frame on three other occasions. But although he won on his three years old debut - a seven furlong selling handicap at doncaster - he incurred his owner's displeasure when Molony was again forced to bid higher than expected to buy him in afterwards. After his next race, Molony was unexpectedly informed by the shrewd old Yorkshire trainer Bobby Renton that he had bought Red Rum on behalf of his close friend and owner, Mrs.Lurline "Muffie" Brotherton. She had been trying to win the Grand National again since 1950, when Renton sent out Freebooter in her colours, but she would sell Red Rum seven months short of realising that ambition. As a novice hurdler, Red Rum won three times and finished in the frame on five other occasions out of a total of ten starts.

To the benefit of Red Rum's future as one of the all-time great steeplechasers, Molony had been schooling him over hurdles since he had been broken in. The horse also profited from a five-run sequence in which he was partnered by the same man, Paddy Broderick. On the flat, Red Rum was ridden by eight different jockeys; over obstacle, he was ridden by 13, including new ones on his first six runs. McCain Enters Picture Red Rum recorded all of his three wins that season partnered by Broderick and, crucially, on the fast ground which he relished. Molony had long guessed that the gelding hated soft ground, and would repeatedly berate Renton for making Red Rum tackle it the following season. When an ageing Renton retired, he asked Tommy Stack to take over. Stack only juggled careers as trainer-jockey for a few months before his friend, nearby trainer Anthony Gillam, suggested that he fill the breach left when Stack handed in his training licence. But disaster struck when Red Rum acquired the debilitating bone disease pedalositis, which should have rendered him a cripple.

When three separate veterinary surgeons were told, after Red Rum's triumph in the 1973 Grand National, that the horse had suffered from that affliction, they dismissed the idea as impossible. Aware of heat in Red Rum's off-fore after racing, but encouraged by Renton, among others, that it needed only minor treatment, an uncertain Gillam had kept the horse going on a busy campaign. When he came back a brave winner from Catterick on New Year's Day in 1972 - his fourth race in a month - Red Rum was lame for several days. X-rays brought the doleful news that very few horses recovered from pedalostitis. After a course of medicine, along with intense physiotherapy, Red Rum seemed to recover. But in the 1972 Scottish Grand National, in which Red Rum finished fifth, the horse kept changing his legs in the last three-quarters of a mile, hanging unusually towards the rails, away from his damaged foot.

Taxi-driver Ginger McCain, who ran a small stable behind a used-car showroom in Southport, saw the race and noted Red Rum as a potential National horse for the 84 year old Noel Le Mare, for whom McCain often begged to be allowed to train horses. Like Mrs.Brotherton, it had long been Le Mare's cherished ambition to own a Grand National winner. He was to achieve that at the age of 84, by which time he had achieved two other ambitions, to become a millionaire and marry a beautiful woman. Lameness Solution But where McCain saw potential, Mrs.Brotherton, after months of veterinary bills, saw only expense. She sent Red Rum to Doncaster's August Sales, much to the outrage of his stable lass sandra, who announced that she would then leave her job. When she was forbidden to accompany Red Rum to the sales for fear she would betray the horse's foot problem ( which the yard had managed to keep a secret ), sandra kept to her word, quitting her job to marry instead.

Gillam still retained faith an damaged to persuade Mrs.Brotherton to raise the reserve on Red Rum from 3,000 to 5,000 Guineas, but plan B involved pooling his financial resources with some friends in order to buy the horse should someone else appear ready to offer more. Gillam then believed that he wouldn't lose Red Rum. He had not reckoned upon the canny McCain. Emboldened by a pot of 7,000 Guineas from Le Mare, McCain stepped in at 5,000 Guineas when the duelling between Gillam and Captain Tim Forster, who thought Red Rum would be a "fun horse" for his owner Mrs.Henriques, had abated.Using a trick he learned at car auctions, McCain motioned a bid of 6,000 Guineas - a huge leap upwards, calculated to scare off the opposition. It worked, and McCain, who had never bought a horse for more than 1,000 Guineas, took control of the gelding who would later change his life. But when he trotted the horse for the first time, McCain saw that Red Rum was lame.

Yet again fate stepped in: Red Rum was at probably the only yard in the country where training took place on the local beach. The sea water, into which McCain banished Red Rum after viewing his hobbling horse, cured him of all his ills. Red Rum trotted out sound. Immediately things began to fall right. Red Rum won his first five races, on ground varying from good to hard, with three different jockeys on board - Stack, Ron Barry and then Brian Fletcher -. On March 31, 1973, he started 9/1 favourite for the Grand National. First National Victory McCain gave Fletcher, with whom he now had a gentleman's agreement to ride the horse, no instructions, but the jockey planned to hunt round the first circuit before starting to ride a real race past the stands. Glenkiln, the horse whom McCain had originally meant as Le Mare's National contender until he lost his form just before Red Rum was bought, fell at the Chair. But the giant Australian chaser, Crisp, who was shouldering top weight of 12st, had built up a massive lead, although Red Rum had worked his way into second by the next circuit.

Crisp appeared unstoppable but conceding 23lb to Red Rum, he slowly began to falter at the famous Elbow after being more than 15 lenghts in front of his rival at the last. Red Rum wore Crisp down, getting up on the line to beat him by three quarters of a lenght and in a record time of 9 min 1.9 sec, knocking nearly 20 seconds off Golden Miller's previous best under 12st 2lb in 1934 - the new record would stand for the next 16 years. Red Rum was never better than in the 1973 / 74 season which undeniably lays the ghost of him being "only" a National horse. Carrying 11st 4lb, he failed by just a short head to beat Red Candle, who was receiving a stone, in the high class Henessy Gold Cup at Newbury. Never carrying less than 12st, Red Rum won four more races before collecting his second Grand National, this time carrying the maximum weight.

Giving 1lb to the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, L'Escargot, Red Rum started third favourite at 11/1, racing off a mark nearly two stone higher than his 1973 victory. He was the first to achieve the double since Reynoldstown in 1936. But Chaseform testifies that the 1974 winner "made this look incredibly easy." Only three weeks later, Red Rum won the Scottish Grand National as the 11/8 favourite under 11st 13lb. Fletcher Split It was then presumed that, having reached a zenith, Red Rum's talent would gradually decline in keeping with the rolling years. Between the autumn of 1974 and the spring of 1976, he ran in 18 chases, winning twice and being placed seven times. But he also gallantly failed to resist first L'Escargot and then Rag Trade in the 1975 and 1976 Grand Nationals.

Fletcher, once champion jockey of the north in 1967 / 68, was sinking into obscurity, having only ridden six winners by the end of January in the 1974 / 75 term. Meanwhile, McCain, bombarded with media criticism for running Red Rum too often, was called to retire the then dual Grand National winner. After McCain deemed Fletcher to have been easy on the horse in a three-mile race at Newcastle and lost second place, the jockey told McCain to retire Red Rum. Trainer and jockey then finally parted ways. But Red Rum proved his light had not gone out when running a fine race in the Hennesy before going on to nearly wear down Rag Trade in the 1.976 Grand National. The 1976 / 77 season began dismally.After an initial small win at Carlisle, Red Rum appeared totally lacklustre in his next four races, and even McCain began to think that he might have "gone".

A foul winter had waterlogged the Southport sands, making them useless for training purposes, but Red Rum finally showed something like his old sparkle in his prep race to the 1977 Grand National, the Greenall Whitley Chase at Haydock. Worries about the now 12 year old gelding unwonted bulk abated when, in his last gallop before Aintree, he dazzled McCain and assorted members of the press who had gathered to watch. Last Aintree Win Ridden by Stack, as he had been in 1976, Red Rum tackled his fifth Grand National in 1977. In the lead from the eighth last, Red Rum appeared momentarily to have a challenger in Churchtown Boy, but the latter's mistake at the third last compared with Red Rum's foot-perfect agility soon settled things in the latter's favour. The noise of the cheering crowd was deafening as he led up the long run-in.

In 1976, Red Rum gave Eyecatcher 17lb and beat her by eight lengths; in 1977, he gave her 21lb and a 31 length beating, rating an improvement at the age of 12 of two stone. The treble, five years in the making, had been achieved. Suddenly, everyone was crying. The celebrations in Southport which received the three times Grand National winner home were long and rasturous. But the greatest Aintree horse of all time was not yet finished.Up until the morning of the 1978 Grand National, Red Rum was being trained for a sixth attempt at the great race. He had run well all season, amassing two seconds and a fourth under mighty weights in his five races. But, after his customary pre-National work-out on the day before the big race, Red Rum pulled up lame. The problem proved to be a hairline fracture and the horse had to be retired. Retired, that is, from the realm of racing.But Red Rum's career as a celebrity continued - a role to which he was as well-adapted as to tackling the Aintree fences.

He thrived as the centre of attention, as anyone who saw the 1977 episode of Sports Personality of the Year Awards can testify. Hearing the voice of Tommy Stack, who was speaking from his hospital bed with a broken pelvis, Red Rum immediately pricked his ears, displaying the great intelligence and showmanship so evident in the horse throughout his life. The horse led the parade in many Grand Nationals Red Rum died on Wednesday, October 18, 1995 and was buried by the winning post on Aintree's Grand National course. His grave is marked by an engraved stone listing his Grand National record, and a life-size bronze commemorates this legendary horse, along with a race staged at Aintree's Festival Meeting, the Martell Red Rum Chase, named in the great horse's memory. RED RUM Red Rum is the only horse in the history of the Grand National Steeplechase to win the race three times, and to make that feat further astonishing, he ran in it two other times and was second. When he was put up for sale in his country of birth both he, and his companion that day were sold for 400 guineas each at the sales in Dublin.

It is a great coincidence that the first race that Red Rum raced in, was at, what was to become his favourite course, Liverpool. On this first occasion he dead headed with Curlicue for first place. This was the companion horse that he was with at the sales! . This was a two year old's selling race run at a distance of 5 furlongs. In total Red Rum ran at Liverpool seven times, he won four and came second in the other three. Red Rum bronze Born in 1965, Red Rum was bred by Martyn Molony at Rossenarra Stud in County Kilkenny, Ireland. He had a flat racing pedigree; his sire was Quorum, and his dam was Mared. In Red Rum's 10 year career he had twenty four different jockeys, Including Lester Piggott, he also had five trainers but in that career he managed to win 3 flat races, 3 hurdle races and also 21 Steeplechases. He was also placed 37 times so he must have taken all the changes in his stride.

His obvious love of racing held him in good stead and it is worth saying that he never actually fell in a race although he once unseated his rider and once slipped up - both events at Haydock. Red Rum's first race was a flat race on April 7, 1967, at the very track where the Grand National is held, Aintree. He had just been bought with a second horse, Curlicue, for 400 pounds. They raced together in their first race, the Thursby Plate at 5 furlongs, and came in a dead heat, tied for first! In his life, Red Rum ran at this track a total of seven races, won four of them and was second in the rest. Red Rum ran for more than ten years in 100 races over fences plus a few on the flat, winning three flat races, three hurdle races, and twenty one steeplechases. Plus, he was second thirty seven times. This is a 64% in the money percentage over ten years! This horse more than paid his way and was game to the last.

To make it more amazing, he had many owners, several trainers, and more than 20 different jockeys over the length of his career. His nickname was Rummie, and he had some foot problems (pedalostitis) that probably his best (and last) trainer Donald (Ginger) McCain treated by galloping him in the shallow surf of the sea. The salt water must have been good for his feet, and the sand toughened his tendons. Red Rum winning the Grand National The year of Rummies first win was 1973 and the account of his first win where he beat the big Australian horse Crisp, but needless to say that Rummy was 20 lengths or more adrift for most of the race and it was only his determination that kept him in the game and indeed allowed him to win his first National.

That day I'm sure that most of the talk would have been about the defeat of Crisp rather than the win of Red Rum but, 12 months later it was Red Rum who was carrying the 12st burden and despite that he went on to win successive nationals and the public started a love affair with this chaser the like of which, is only given to a few. When he started in his first Grand National in 1973, Rummie had had five wins and three seconds in his previous eight starts, so was co-favored with topweight Crisp, the Australian-bred trained by Fred Winter. During the race, Crisp got a clear, long lead when another horse fell at the Chair, but Red Rum gained slowly and by the end, beat Crisp by three quarters of a length. It was 25 lengths back to the next horse. In 1974, Rummie had won four races and been second three times coming up to the National. He was given top weight of 12 stone, 2 pounds (a stone is 14 pounds, so Rummie was carrying 170 pounds).

Red Rum was jumping perfectly at Aintree and was in front at Becher's Brook on the second time around. Then he misjudged the fifth to last fence, but recovered well. He galloped on determindly to beat L'Escargot by seven lengths to become the first horse since Reynoldstown (1935-6) to win the Grand National in successive years. The next month he went to Ayr and won the Scottish National, the first time the elusive double Aintree/Ayr Nationals had been achieved. The next year, he didn't do as well in his prep races, and in the 1975 Grand National, he jumped well and ran a game race, but didn't have enough gas left to hold off L'Escargot, and came in second. In prepping for the 1976 National, he had not come in better than third place in his last eight races. This year, they put 11 stones, 10 pounds on Rummie. He jumped clean, and ran well, but was again second in this one by only 2 lengths to winner Rag Trade.

Red Rum leading the Parade In both 1975 and 1976 despite putting up a good defence of his crown Rummie was beaten on both occasions into second place. In 1975 he met the twice Gold Cup winner L'Escargot and had to give him 11lbs however he was still in front at the last, but the ground was very soft that day and Rummie hated the ground so the combination of giving weight and the soft ground he had to yield to L'Escargot. In 1976 he took on another good horse Rag Trade and having to carry top weight for the third successive year He was unable to give him the 12lbs and although never gave up and closed in on him up the straight he was again to come second Red Rum was 12 years old in 1977 and was again entered in the great race. His season by now was mapped out to give him the best chance in the national.

Not many 12 year olds win the race and some of the racing pundits thought that this might have been a case of going to the well once too often but his trainer Ginger knew that the horse was in great form and was sure that the horse would not only give a good account of himself but, that he would Win ! and he was to be proved correct. He was still having to carry top weight this year but at least the top weight had gone down to 11st 8lbs. He'd been trained to peak on National day as usual, and this time he looked really good. The only worry was whether the ground would be too wet for him. It was not. Rummie jumped with his usual perfection, and when the favorite fell at Becher's Brook on the second time around, Rummie took off to build up a good lead. His jockey Tommy Stack kept increasing the pace, and only Churchtown Boy was keeping up. However, at the second to last fence, Churchtown Boy hit the fence and lost momentum, and Rummie won his third Grand National by 25 lengths, the first horse ever to win three Nationals! The crowd went crazy, surrounding the winner and shouting their praise.

In 1978 Rummie was entered in the following years National this at an age of fourteen was remarkable in it's self but an injury a short time before the race meant that he could not take part that year, however Ginger thought seriously that he would win if he had got him there. The following year at 15 he was entered again and was due to run until a few days before the race when he was again found to be lame and the connections had to finally come to terms that ' The Nations Favourite ' would not have another race and in 1979 he was retired. However he did go to Liverpool that day and lead the parade and so began his second life in which he was to be one of the biggest celebrities of his day and always attracted a crowd at any opening ceremony that he attended indeed he even was to make an appearance on the BBC Sorts personality of the year award. Red Rum returned to Aintree to celebrate his 30th birthday on May 3, 1995. He returned to Liverpool on many occasions to lead the parade right up until his death on October 18th 1995 at an age of 30.

He was humanely put down in his stall at McCain's stable on October 18 and buried that same day in a special grave next to the winning post at Aintree racetrack. Said his long time trainer, Ginger McCain, "I was very, very upset but I did what we planned years ago and managed to phone the clerk of the course at Aintree. Soon Rummy was on his last journey. Some time between 1:30 and 2:00 he was buried at the winning line on the Grand National course where he became a legend. The thought comforted me, to think of all those lovely horses racing over him to make glory days of their own." His place in the history of the Grand National and of the Liverpool course will never be forgot and his statue is to be found at the course. He was also given the honour of having his last resting place in one of his favourite places and today he lays buried with his head facing the winning post at the Aintree course.

A memorial is also there for visitors to see and for then to remember one of Aintree's greates History History It is illegal for anyone aged under 18 to gamble Grand National History The Grand National at Aintree has been a British sporting institution since 1839, when a horse called Lottery won the inaugural running and Captain Becher parted company with his horse at a now world famous brook. In those days, the horses had to jump a stone wall, cross a stretch of ploughed land and finish over two hurdles. The race was then known as the Grand Liverpool Steeplechase. The course was founded by William Lynn, a syndicate head and proprietor of the Waterloo Hotel, on land he leased in Aintree from William Molyneux, 2nd Earl of Sefton. Lynn set out a course, built a grandstand, and Lord Sefton laid the foundation stone on 7 February 1829. There is actually much debate regarding the first official Grand National; some leading published historians, including John Pinfold, now prefer the idea that the first running was in 1836 and was won by The Duke.

This same horse won again in 1837, while Sir William was the winner in 1838. These races have long been disregarded because of the belief that they took place at Maghull and not Aintree. However, some historians have unearthed evidence in recent years that suggest those three races were run over the same course at Aintree and were regarded as having been Grand Nationals up until the mid-1860. Contemporary newspaper reports place all the 1836-38 races at Aintree although the 1839 race is the first described as "nationalï¿½. To date, though, calls for the Nationals of 1836ï¿½1838 to be restored to the record books have been unsuccessful. In 1838 and 1839 three significant events occurred to transform the Liverpool 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 arrived in Liverpool, enabling transport to the course by rail 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 an 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. 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. The Grand National has produced a colourful array of stories throughout its illustrious past.

Here are our favourites, including some famous video clips: Red Rum It was over 40 years ago now that Red Rum recorded the first of the three victories in the Grand National that earned him pride of place in the record books forever. He still remains the only horse to have won the Grand National three times and, as that statistic suggests, the great horse was a phenomenon. Bred to be a sprinter, Red Rum went on to win the gruelling four-and-a-half mile chase in 1973, 1974 and 1977, as well as finishing second on his other two starts, to become the greatest Grand National performer ever. All of this was achieved after overcoming the debilitating bone disease pedalosteitis, which should have rendered him unraceable. However, fate stepped in: Red Rum was at probably the only yard in the country where the training took place on a beach. The sea water, into which trainer Donald ï¿½Gingerï¿½ McCain banished Red Rum after viewing the hobbling horse, worked an amazing transformation. On 31 March, 1973, he started 9/1 favourite for his first Grand National.

However, by the time the runners had reached the Chair the giant Australian chaser, Crisp, who was shouldering top weight of 12st (a weight that is now forbidden in the National), had built up a massive lead and appeared unstoppable with four fences to go. But, conceding 23lb to Red Rum, his stamina started to wane and he slowly began to falter at the famous Elbow after being more than 15 lengths in front of his rival at the last. Red Rum gradually wore Crisp down, getting up on the line to beat him by three-quarters of a length in a then record time of 9 min 1.9 sec, knocking nearly 20 seconds off Golden Miller's previous best under 12st 2lb in 1934 - this new record would stand for the next 16 years. You can watch this incredible race and finish here: Red Rum was never better than in the 1973/74 season when he won four more races before collecting his second Grand National, this time carrying the maximum weight of 12st.

Giving 1lb to the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner, L'Escargot, Red Rum started third favourite at 11/1, racing off a mark nearly two stone higher than for his 1973 victory. He was the first to achieve the double since Reynoldstown in 1936. Only three weeks later, Red Rum won the Scottish Grand National as the 11/8 favourite under 11st 13lb. It was then presumed that, having reached a zenith, Red Rum's talent would gradually decline in keeping with the rolling years. Between the autumn of 1974 and the spring of 1976, he ran in 18 chases, winning twice and being placed seven times. But he also gallantly failed to resist first L'Escargot and then Rag Trade in the 1975 and 1976 Grand National's. The 1976/77 season began dismally. After an initial small win at Carlisle, Red Rum appeared totally lacklustre in his next four races, and even McCain began to think that he might have "gone".

A foul winter had waterlogged the Southport sands, making them useless for training purposes, but Red Rum finally showed something like his old sparkle in his prep race for the 1977 Grand National, the Greenall Whitley Chase at Haydock. Worries about the now 12-year-old gelding's unwonted bulk abated when, in his last gallop before Aintree, he dazzled McCain and assorted members of the press who had gathered to watch. Ridden by Tommy Stack, as he had been in 1976, Red Rum tackled his fifth Grand National in 1977. In the lead from the eighth last, Red Rum appeared momentarily to have a challenger in Churchtown Boy, but the latter's mistake at the third last compared with Red Rum's foot-perfect agility soon settled things in Rummyï¿½s favour.

The noise of the cheering crowd was deafening as he led up the long run-in, winning by 25 lengths under 11st 8lb and you can watch the historic race below: In 1976, Red Rum had given Eyecatcher 17lb and beat her by eight lengths; in 1977, he gave her 21lb and a 31-length beating, rating an improvement at the age of 12 of two stone. The treble, five years in the making, had been achieved. The celebrations in Southport which received the three-time Grand National winner home were long and rapturous. But the greatest Aintree horse of all time was not yet finished. Up until the morning of the 1978 Grand National, Red Rum was being trained for a sixth attempt at the great race. He had run well all season, amassing two seconds and a fourth under mighty weights in his five races. But, after his customary pre-National work-out on the day before the big race, Red Rum pulled up lame. The problem proved to be a hairline fracture and the horse had to be retired. Retired, that is, from the realm of racing.

But Red Rum's career as a celebrity continued - a role to which he was as well-adapted as to tackling the Aintree fences. He thrived as the centre of attention, as anyone who saw the 1977 episode of Sports Personality of the Year Awards can testify. Hearing the voice of Tommy Stack, who was speaking from his hospital bed with a broken pelvis, Red Rum immediately pricked his ears, displaying the great intelligence and showmanship so evident in the horse throughout his life. He went on to lead the parade in many Grand Nationals. Red Rum died on Wednesday, October 18, 1995 and was buried by the winning post on Aintree's Grand National course. His grave is marked by an engraved stone listing his Grand National record, and a life-size bronze commemorates this legendary competitor, along with a race staged at the Grand National meeting, the Red Rum Chase, named in the great horse's memory. Aldaniti There was hardly a dry eye among the crowd when Aldaniti won the Grand National in 1981. It was a victory for both courage and determination in the face of adversity.

In late 1979, Bob Champion, the successful jockey, was told that he had cancer and only months to live, while Aldaniti had almost been retired because of leg trouble. Against all the odds, the gallant partnership held on to beat Spartan Missile, ridden by John Thorne, a 54-year-old grandfather and amateur rider. The winner's true-life story inspired the 1983 film Champions, starring John Hurt. Aldaniti died at the age of 27 in March, 1997. Bob Champion made a full recovery and, with the help of Aldaniti, has raised millions of pounds for cancer research. Aldaniti's name was a jumble from the names of four grandchildren of his breeder, Tommy Barron: ALastair and DAvid Cook plus NIcola and TImothy Barron. The Pitmans The Pitman family has a special association with the Grand National. In 1983, Jenny Pitman became the first woman to train a winner of the race when Corbiere beat Greasepaint.

She followed up this victory in 1995 with Royal Athlete who succeeded at the long odds of 40/1, but experienced heartbreak when Esha Ness "won" the 1993 void race. Mark, her son, must have gone through similar emotions when he was caught in the dying strides by Seagram whilst riding Garrison Savannah in 1991, also trained by his mother. Garrison Savannah was bidding for an historic double ï¿½ and to emulate the great Golden Miller ï¿½ having won the Cheltenham Gold Cup a few weeks earlier. Years earlier, Richard Pitman, then-husband to Jenny and Mark's father, was caught even closer to the winning post by Red Rum, the Aintree specialist, when he partnered the gallant top weight Crisp in 1973. Mrs Pitman was awarded an OBE in the 1998 New Year's Honours List and in the same year fought a successful battle against cancer.

She has now retired from training as, for the time being, has her son Mark who carried on the family tradition for a while (he trained Smarty to finish second in 2001 when only four horses completed the course in terrible conditions, and sixth in 2004). Jenny Pitman was also one of the first batch of inductees to the Grand National Legends (the Hall of Fame-style initiative that was established in 2010), along with Red Rum and his trainer, Ginger McCain. Watch Corbiere win the 1983 Grand National ahead of Greasepaint: Devon Loch The 1956 National is remembered more for the defeat of Devon Loch than for the victory of ESB. Owned by Her Majesty The Queen Mother, Devon Loch had the race won when he inexplicably gave a half-leap just 50 yards from the finish, sprawling and almost unseating Dick Francis, the unfortunate jockey, and leaving the crowd stunned. Afterwards, The Queen Mother famously said "That's racing". Debate still rages as to why the incident happened - according to some reports, Devon Loch suffered a cramp in the hindquarters and this caused the collapse.

However, other reports claim that a shadow thrown by the water jump (which horses only jump on the first circuit of the Aintree course) may have confused Devon Loch into thinking another leap was required and - unsure as to whether he should or not - he half-jumped and collapsed. Reports that the horse had suffered a heart attack were dismissed, as Devon Loch recovered far too quickly for that to have been the case. Whatever the truth, the incident so puzzled Francis that he became a thriller writer, inventing mysteries himself and over the decades Francis learned to be as philosophical. As did his wife Mary who once said that had he won the Grand National there would have been no bestselling autobiography and no thrillers. "As I said in my autobiography, an ambulance came by and the driver said, ï¿½Jump in the back!ï¿½ I was never more pleased to get away from all the people who were rushing towards me. What happened? Iï¿½ve thought about it time and time again...I remember jumping the last fence and I could hear the crescendo of cheering building up in the stands. There were 500,000 people there that day. They were all cheering for the Queen Mother.

She was there and the Queen was there and Princess Margaret was there." Francis is quoted as saying. "I never thought about it at the time but I heard them cheering and I just rode to the finish. I was winning easily. I didnï¿½t have to pick up my stick or anything like that. Iï¿½ve looked at the newsreel time and again and as the horse approaches the water jump ï¿½ which this time round he didnï¿½t need to cross ï¿½ you can see him prick up his ears and gallop past it. As he pricked up its ears ï¿½ Christ! ï¿½ his hindquarters refused to act and down he went on to his belly. How I didnï¿½t fall off him I donï¿½t know." Devon Loch is a metaphor now used in modern day sports and otherwise to explain the sudden, last-minute failure of teams or a sportsman to complete an expected victory, e.g. "United can only hope Arsenal do a Devon Loch." Dick Francis died of natural causes on 14 February 2010 at his Caribbean home in Grand Cayman, by which time he had written 40 international best-sellers.

Watch Devon Loch sprawl on the run-in to the 1956 Grand National, snatching defeat from the jaws of victory and allowing ESB to claim an unlikely success: Devon Loch spread-eagled on the run-in at the 1956 Grand National Foinavon Foinavon sensationally won the 1967 National in bizarre circumstances. At the smallest fence on the second circuit, the 23rd, the riderless Popham Down cut right across the course causing a pile-up that almost brought the entire field to a standstill. John Buckingham, Foinavon's jockey, was able to steer his mount wide of the melee and thus won on the 100/1 outsider. The Aintree executive named the fence in honour of the horse - fence 7 or 23 (depending on the circuit), at 4ft 6in, one of the smallest jumps on the course, is situated between the more daunting Becher's Brook and the Canal Turn. Foinavon has sometimes been likened to a slow plodding carthorse, but records show that his 1967 winning time was one of the fastest in this gruelling race.

Equally, this so called no-hoper had taken part in some top class races before attempting the Grand National and he had finished fourth in a King George and took part in a Gold Cup at Cheltenham, so perhaps his odds of 100/1 may have been a bit generous (although the Tote SP was 444/1). Nevertheless, his owner was so unenthusiastic about his chances that he was not even at Aintree for the great race. Buckingham said later that at the time he did not realise that they were the only pair to jump the fence at the first attempt but he just kept going. Although some 17 horses remounted and finished the race the distance Foinavon had "stolen" at the obstacle meant that he led over the final seven fences to go on to collect his prize, 15 lengths clear of the fast-closing favourite, Honey End, and Red Alligator, who went on to win in 1968. Foinavon did also run in the following year's Grand National but fell or was brought down at the water jump.

Foinavon was at one time owned by Anne, Duchess of Westminster, whose colours were also carried by the much superior Arkle - both were named after Scottish mountains. She also owned Last Suspect who won the 1985 Grand National. Watch the 1967 Grand National, courtesy of British Pathï¿½ (scroll to around 1 minutes, 20 seconds to see all the drama unfold): The commentary of Michael O'Hehir of the carnage at the 23rd fence ranks among the most famous in the history of BBC televised sport and is often shown when BBC Sport puts together nostalgic montages of great sporting moments. O'Hehir received particular respect from his peers for the speed and unflustered coolness with which he identified Foinavon as the horse emerging from the mï¿½lï¿½e. O'Hehir later said in an interview that it was precisely the unfamiliarity of Foinavon's colours that made him so instantly recognisable during the race.

O'Hehir visited the weighing room before the race, as is the custom of many National commentators, to familiarise himself more clearly with the colours of the silks but found himself completely stumped when looking at the black with red and yellow braces being worn by John Buckingham. Eventually O'Hehir had to ask Buckingham who his mount was. A confused O'Hehir said that his racecard showed two-tone green quarters, as worn by the rider in the Cheltenham Gold Cup a few weeks earlier, but Buckingham explained that the owner felt green to be unlucky and so had registered new colours for the National. The "Iron" Duke of Alburquerque Beltrï¿½n Alfonso Osorio y Dï¿½ez de Rivera, known as the "Iron" Duke of Albuquerque (1918-1994), surely ranks as the worst jockey in horse-racing history. After receiving a film of the Grand National as a gift for his eighth birthday, the Duke became obsessed with it: "I said then that I would win that race one day," he later recalled. He nearly died trying.

This magnificently barking mad Spanish aristocrat and amateur jockey entered the Grand National seven times with impressively consistent results. Generally he would start with the others, gallop briefly and then wake up in the Royal Liverpool Infirmary (where apparently he always booked a private room when he rode in the race). Each year, Sir Peter O'Sullevan would gravely intone: "And the Duke of Albuquerque's gone". On his first attempt in 1952, he fell from his horse at the sixth fence, nearly broke his neck and woke up later in hospital with a cracked vertebra. His next try was in 1963, when he fell from his horse yet again, this time at the fourth fence. Undeterred, he returned in 1965 but again fell from his horse after it collapsed underneath him, breaking his leg. His ineptitude was so apparent that in 1963 bookies even offered odds of 66/1 - against him even finishing the race atop his horse! He returned in 1973 when his stirrup broke, although he clung on for eight fences before being sent into inevitable orbit.

In 1974, after having sixteen screws removed from a leg he had broken after falling in another race, he also fell while training for the Grand National and broke his collarbone. Nevertheless, he then competed in a plaster cast, this time actually managing to finish the race for the only time in his splendid career, but only in eighth (and last) place aboard Nereo: "I sat like a sack of potatoes and gave the horse no help" he said after the race. One anecdote from this race is that he barged into Ron Barry at the second Canal Turn; Barry said "What the f*** are you doing?" to which he replied: "My dear chap I haven't a clue...I've never got this far before!" In 1976, he sustained his most serious injuries after being trampled in a race by several other horses. He suffered seven broken ribs, several fractured vertebrae, a broken wrist and thigh, and a major concussion, and was in a coma for two days. After recovering he announced, at the age of 57, that he planned to race yet again. Race organisers wisely revoked his license "for his own safety".

Though the Iron Duke never won the Grand National, he certainly broke more bones than any other jockey in attempting to do so. Notable Dates In Grand National History 1837: THE DUKE wins the first Great Liverpool Steeplechase at Maghull, some three miles from the present site of Aintree racecourse. 1839: Aintree becomes the new home for the event, with LOTTERY carrying off the prize and Captain Martin Becher christening the now-famous brook as he crawls in for safety after a fall. 1847: MATTHEW records the first Irish-trained victory on the day the race is officially named the Grand National. 1887: GAMECOCK wins the National at 20-1 and follows up by winning the Champion Chase over the big fences the very next day. 1897: MANIFESTO, the 6-1 favourite, records the first of his two wins in the race. He ran eight times up to the age of 16, also finishing third three times and fourth once. 1907: Jockey Alf Newey brings EREMON home in front, despite riding without stirrups from the second fence.

1927: Ted Leader rides SPRIG to a popular victory in the first Grand National to be covered by a BBC radio commentary. 1928: On the day of the race, before it had begun, TIPPERARY TIM'S jockey William Dutton heard a friend call out to him: "Billy boy, you'll only win if all the others fall down!ï¿½. These words turned out to be true, as 41 of the 42 starters fell during the race. It was run during misty weather conditions with the going very heavy. As the field approached the Canal Turn on the first circuit, Easter Hero fell, causing a pile-up from which only seven horses emerged with seated jockeys. By the penultimate fence this number had reduced to three, with Great Span looking most likely to win ahead of Billy Barton and Tipperary Tim. Great Span's saddle then slipped, leaving Billy Barton in the lead until he too then fell. Although Billy Barton's jockey, Tommy Cullinan, managed to remount and complete the race, it was Tipperary Tim who came in first at odds of 100-1.

With only two riders completing the course, this remains a record for the fewest number of finishers. 1934: The legendary GOLDEN MILLER becomes the only horse ever to win the Grand National and the Cheltenham Gold Cup in the same season, carrying 12st 2lb to victory in record time. In the 1934 Grand National, Golden Miller set a new course record of 9 min 20.4s. That win was in the middle of five consecutive Cheltenham Gold Cup victories 1947: CAUGHOO beats 56 opponents at a mist-shrouded Aintree and is then accused of only going round once. 1956: DEVON LOCH and jockey Dick Francis, looking certain to give The Queen Mother victory when clear on the run-in, suddenly sprawl flat on the ground yards from the winning post, allowing ESB to win. 1967: The year of the horrific pile-up at the 23rd. John Buckingham and complete outsider FOINAVON avoid the melee and gallop on to a 100-1 win.

1974: Grand National character the Duke of Alburquerque completes the course for the one and only time in numerous attempts on NEREO, despite breaking his collarbone only a week before the race. 1977: The incomparable RED RUM rewrites the record books with his historic third victory. 'Rummy' had five runs, with three wins and two seconds, from the age of eight to 12. 1979: RUBSTIC makes history by becoming the first Scottish-trained winner. His homecoming party was heralded by a piper leading him back to the hamlet of Denholm, Roxburghshire. 1981: ALDANITI, nursed back from career-threatening injury three times, wins a fairytale National ridden by Bob Champion, who fought, and beat, cancer. 1982: Dick Saunders, at the age of 48, becomes the oldest winning jockey on GRITTAR. Geraldine Rees becomes the first woman to complete the course, riding the leg-weary CHEERS. 1983: Years of doubt about the Grand National's future are ended when the Jockey Club, helped by public donations, buys the course.

CORBIERE's victory ensures Jenny Pitman goes into the history books as the first woman to train the winner. 1987: Jim Joel becomes the oldest winning owner at 92. He is on his way back from South Africa when MAORI VENTURE wins a thrilling race from The Tsarevich. 1993: The darkest day in the history of the National. There is chaos after a second false start as 30 out of the 39 jockeys began the race despite a false start being called, leading to a void result for the seven horses who finished. John White passes the post first on the Jenny Pitman-trained ESHA NESS, only to discover the race has been declared void. The 1993 Grand National - the race that never was. Racing commentator Sir Peter O'Sullevan described it as "the greatest disaster in the history of the Grand National" 1994: MIINNEHOMA, owned by comedian Freddie Starr, gives multiple champion trainer Martin Pipe his first National victory, and 51-year-old grandmother Rosemary Henderson completes the course on her own horse FIDDLERS PIKE, who finishes fifth.

1995: Jenny Pitman, the first lady of Aintree, gains her second success - two years after her first - with ROYAL ATHLETE. 1997: The National has to be postponed after two coded bomb threats were received from the IRA. The course was secured by police who then evacuated jockeys, race personnel, and local residents along with 60,000 spectators. Cars and coaches were locked in the course grounds, leaving some 20,000 people without their vehicles over the weekend. With limited accommodation available in the city, local residents opened their doors and took in many of those stranded. This prompted tabloid headlines such as "We'll fight them on the Becher's", in reference to Winston Churchill's famous war-time speech. The race was run 48 hours later on the Monday, with the meeting organisers offering 20,000 tickets with free admission. The rearranged race was won in spectacular style by 14/1 shot LORD GYLLENE.

A mass evacuation of Aintree racecourse took place on Saturday 5 April 1997 1999: Father-and-son trainer-jockey team Tommy and Paul Carberry combine to land a first Irish win for 24 years with BOBBYJO. 2000: Ted and 20-year-old Ruby Walsh emulate the feat of their compatriots 12 months previously as PAPILLON lands a gamble, backed from a morning 33-1 into 10-1 before taking the prize. 2001: RED MARAUDER and Smarty are the only horses to put in clear rounds in a race run in atrocious conditions, though all horses return unscathed. 2003: MONTY'S PASS lands a massive gamble, with owner Mike Fuller netting close to ï¿½1million from ante-post bets. The horse is backed from 40-1 into 16-1 and romps home. 2004: Ginger McCain, veteran trainer of Red Rum, enjoys an emotional victory as 12-year-old AMBERLEIGH HOUSE lands the spoils, having been third in 2003.

2005: HEDGEHUNTER becomes the first horse since Corbiere in 1983 to carry more than 11st to victory in the great race, romping clear in great style under Ruby Walsh to slam Royal Auclair by 14 lengths. John Smithï¿½s take over from Martell as the main sponsor. 2006: John Smith's launched the John Smith's People's Race which gave ten members of the public the chance to ride in a flat race at Aintree on Grand National day. In total, thirty members of the public took part in the event before it was discontinued in 2010. 2008: COMPLY OR DIE allows David Pipe to join his legendary father, Martin, in the record books as a National-winning trainer in just his second season. The race also carries record prize money of ï¿½800,000. 2009: MON MOME becomes the biggest-priced winner since Foinavon when powering home at 100-1 for trainer Venetia Williams and jockey Liam Treadwell, who was having his first ride in the race.

2010: DON'T PUSH IT, trained by Jonjo O'Neill and owned by legendary gambler JP McManus, provides perennial champion jockey Tony McCoy with his first success at the 15th attempt. McCoy went on to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award that year ï¿½ the first person from the world of horse racing to do so. The 2010 renewal was also the first horse race to be televised in HD in the UK. 2011: Another emotional victory as BALLABRIGGSï¿½ success on a sweltering day at Aintree allows Donald McCain to join his legendary father, Ginger, who trained both Red Rum and Amberleigh House, in the Grand National record books. 2012: One of the closest finishes in the raceï¿½s illustrious history sees NEPTUNE COLLOGNES beat Sunyhillboy by a nose, giving Paul Nicholls his first Grand National success. Katie Walsh achieves the highest finishing position by a lady jockey by claiming third place on Seabass, trained by her father Ted.

2013: Legendary showjumper Harvey Smith and his wife Sue send out 66-1 AURORAS ENCORE to cause a shock in a race in which only two of the forty runners fell on the first circuit. Fellow trainer Evan Williams has to settle for a place for the fifth time in as many years. 2014: Part time trainer, Dr Richard Newland, landed the first ever ï¿½1 million renewal of the race, courtesy of PINEAU DE RE. Williamï¿½s amazing run continued with Alvarado fourth for the Welsh handler. 2015: Incredibly, another place for Williams with Alvarado fourth again behind MANY CLOUDS, who made a mockery of the trends as an eight year old carrying 11st 9lbs to land another victory in the race for Trevor Hemmings. © Where To Bet Ltd 2004-16 (contact us: wheretobet@hotmail.com)

Question: The horse Red Rum finished second twice in the British Grand National, in 1975 and 1976; Rag Trade and which other were the horses that beat him?
Answer: L'Escargot