1974 - Red Rum
Leading Fancies
RED RUM returned to Aintree carrying top weight of twelve stone aiming to become the first horse since Reynoldstown in the thirties to win back-to-back Nationals. Trained with the race in mind he had been beaten in a match at Doncaster by Crisp in the autumn and had then put up perhaps his best display over park fences when beaten a short-head by Red Candle in the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup at Newbury. He was in excellent form winning four times at Ayr, Newcastle, Catterick and Carlisle but had been hampered and unseated at the very first fence in his prep race, the Greenall Breweries Chase at Haydock. With Crisp sadly absent through injury L`ESCARGOT, third last year was second favourite albeit he was without a win all season. He bypassed the Gold Cup this year and run instead in the Cathcart Chase over two and a half miles where he had been beaten by interesting American import Soothsayer. However to the surprise of many neither were to start favourite as at the last minute that honour fell to SCOUT probably on the back of his last three starts which had resulted in victories at Ayr, Doncaster and Wetherby. SPANISH STEPS had also missed the Gold Cup en-route to Aintree and had been runner up in the National Hunt Handicap Chase. Running in the same colours was ROYAL RELIEF who`s connections were no doubt hoping that the recent good form shown by shorter distance specialists would continue. He had won The Two Mile Champion Chase twice in 1972 and 1974. He was to be ridden by TV pundit and journalist Lord Oaksey, so narrowly beaten on Carrickbeg in 1963. Former Topham winner SUNNY LAD had finished third in the Two Mile Chase and had won twice this term at Straford and Huntingdon. Other interesting runners included CHARLES DICKENS three time winner of the Grand Military Gold Cup between 1970-72 and STEPHENS SOCIETY winner of the gruelling Velka Pardubicka in Czechoslvakia the previous autumn. His owner-rider Chris Collins had finished third on Mr Jones in 1965 on his only previous ride in the race. Note should also be made of the unfashionably named WOLVERHAMPTON who was running in the colours of Aintrees news owner Bill Davies who had entered into the spirit of things by having a runner in the race.
GRAND NATIONAL HANDICAP CHASE (77 entries) 4 1/2 miles £25,102.50 to the winner, £7,620 to the second, £3,735 5 to the third & £1,792.50 to the fourth
1 11221U RED RUM 9, 12-0 (D.McCain) B.Fletcher
2 1-F3402 L`ESCARGOT 11, 11-13 (D L Moore - IRE) T.Carberry
3 3PF-F00 ARGENT 10, 11-10 (E.Cousins) R.Coonan
4 20F002 SPANISH STEPS 11, 11-9 (E R Courage) W.Smith
5 01F341 ROYAL RELIEF 10, 11-6 (E R Courage) Lord Oaksey
6 0-4124P PRINCESS CAMILLA 9, 11-4 (G M Vergette) M.Blackshaw
7 P1244U HUPERADE 10, 10-12* (G R Owen) Mr J Carden
8 1121U2 STRAIGHT VULGAN 8, 10-8 (G W Richards) R.Barry
9 0/04-10 VULGAN TOWN 8, 10-8 (G B Balding) J.Haine
10 3P1000 ROMAN HOLIDAY 10, 10-7 (Maj C Bewicke) J.King
11 P-10P30 NEREO 8, 10-6 (F T Winter) Duke of Alberquerque
12 211023 ROUGH HOUSE 8, 10-6 (T F Rimell) Mr J Burke
13 141013 SUNNY LAD 10, 10-4 (T F Rimell) D.Cartwright
14 1-0PP34 BAHIA DORADA 9, 10-2 (J.Pullen) J.Guest
15 000041 GLENKILN 11, 10-2 (D.McCain) R.Crank
16 221303 SHANEMAN 9, 10-2 (T.Taaffe - IRE) B.Hannon
17 122012 SAN-FELIU 11, 10-3* (N.Crump) P.Buckley
18 233030 THE TUNKU 8, 10-1 (D.McCain) R R Evans
19 213112 STEPHEN`S SOCIETY 8, 11-5* (W A Stephenson) Mr C Collins
20 110004 TUBS VI 11, 10-6* (T V O`Brien - IRE) V O`Brien
21 P03FP0 CLOUDSMERE 10, 10-4 (R C Armytage) P.Kellaway
22 12121U FRANCOPHILE 9, 10-5* (E.McNally) R.Pitman
23 300310 PEARL OF MONTREAL 11, 10-0 (L.Greene - IRE) T.Kinane
24 443321 DEBLINS GREEN 11, 10-0 (G H Yardley) N.Wakley
25 0-41303 ROUGE AUTUMN 10, 10-0 (T F Rimell) K B White
26 3P011U NORWEGIAN FLAG 8, 10-0 (R.Clay) J.Bourke
27 213442 QUINTUS 8, 10-0 (E R Courage) G.Thorner
28 434440 ESCARI 8, 10-2* (J.Cox - IRE) P.Black
29 030 /00P BEAU BOB 11, 10-0 (S.Mellor) J.Glover
30 F00P-30 CHARLES DICKENS 10, 10-0 (M J Scudamore) A.Turnell
31 000021 SIXER 10, 10-0 (G.Clay) M.Salaman
32 30F-010 CULLA HILL 10, 10-8* (S.Norton) Mr N Brookes
33 20B200 BEGGARS WAY 10, 10-2* (S.Cole) V.Soane
34 320111 SCOUT 8, 10-0 (W A Stephenson) T.Stack
35 0-101U0 ASTBURY 11, 10-0 (J P Bissill) Mr W Jenks
36 0-21212 WOLVERHAMPTON 7, 10-0 (T F M Corrie) R.Quinn
37 044033 ROUGH SILK 11, 10-0 (E J O`Grady - IRE) M F Morris
38 3334F0 ESTOILE 10, 10-0 (M J Scudamore) R.Hyett
40 04F-440 KARACOLA 9, 10-0 (W A Stephenson) C.Astbury
41 4P40/00- MILL DOOR 12, 10-2 (R.Blakeney) J.McNaught
42 1300PF DUNNO 10, 10-1* (N R Mitchell) Mr N Mitchell
44 0400UP GO-PONTINENTAL 14, 10-0 (D.Nicholson) J.Suthern
Non Runners : 39 - PERSIAN LARK (-)
43 - BEAU PARC (Mr H.Bevan)
S.P : 7-1 Scout, 17-2 L`Escargot, 11-1 RED RUM, 14-1 Rough House, 15-1 Spanish Steps & Straight Vulgan, 16-1 Francophile, 18-1 Royal Relief, 20-1 Sunny Lad, 22-1 San-Felieu & Tubs VI, 25-1 Deblins Green & Wolverhampton, 28-1 Princess Camilla & Rouge Autumn, 33-1 Quintus, 35-1 Vulgan Town, 40-1 Stephens Society, 50-1 Argent, Charles Dickens, Glenkiln, Norwegian Flag, Pearl of Montreal & Shaneman, 66-1 Astbury, Beggars Way, Escari, Estoile, Roman Holiday, Rough Silk & Sixer, 100-1 Bahia Dorada, Beau Bob, Cloudsmere, Culla Hill, Dunno, Huperade, Go-Pontinental, Karacola, Mill Door, Nereo & The Tunku
Aintree debutants
Argent*, Bahia Dorada*, Charles Dickens*, Dunno*, Estoile*, Francophile*, Karacola, Roman Holiday*, Rough House, Royal Relief, San-Feliu*, Shaneman, Sixer*, Stephens Society*, Straight Vulgan, Tubs VI*, Wolverhampton
Winners at Aintree
Glenkiln - William Hill Grand National Trial (1972)
Red Rum - Grand National (1973)
Sunny Lad - Topham Trophy (1972)
Result
1st RED RUM - Brian Fletcher
2nd L`ESCARGOT - Tommy Carberry
3rd CHARLES DICKENS - Andy Turnell
4th SPANISH STEPS - Bill Smith
5h ROUGH SILK - M F Morris
6th VULGAN TOWN - Johnny Haine
7th ROUGE AUTUMN - Ken White
8th NEREO - Duke of Alberquerque
9th SAN-FELIU - Pat Buckley
10th NORWEGIAN FLAG - J.Bourke
11th SCOUT - Tommy Stack
12th QUINTUS - Graham Thorner
13th DUNNO - Mr Norman Mitchell
14th TUBS VI - Val O`Brien
15th ESCARI - P.Black
16th SUNNY LAD - D.Cartwright
17th PRINCESS CAMILLA - M Blackshaw
Time : 9 minutes, 20.3 seconds
Distances : 7-sht hd-8-7-7
Owned by Noel Le Mare
Trained by Ginger McCain at Southport, Lancashire
1975 - L'Escargot
The winner
Having tried to win the race for eighteen years L`Escargots delighted owner Raymond Guest immediately announced the horses retirement and added that he would spend the remainder of his days with his trainer. However it would appear that the old warrior did not adapt too well to standing in a field and being hacked so the Moores decided to run him in the Kerry National at Listowel that September. He ran credibly enough finishing third. Unfortunately news of the run filtered back to Guest who was not best pleased and L`Escargot was immediately shipped back to his owners ranch in Virginia where he lived for another ten years
Leading fancies
There was talk of only one horse in the run up to this years National, the hat-trick seeking superstar RED RUM. Such was the interest he generated he even graced the cover of that weeks Radio Times. He had had much the same preparation as the previous year although he had made a rare trip south to Kempton to contest the Charissma Records Gold Cup finishing a disappointing eighth behind rival ROUGH HOUSE. He had then gone on to win the Haydock Park Grand National trial beating another rival GLEN OWEN. Although the going did not look to be in his favour he started a warm favourite at 7-2. L`ESCARGOT second in the betting was without a win in four starts although he had run credibly in the Two Mile Champion Chase behind Lough Inagh and ROYAL RELIEF. As well as winning at Kempton ROUGH HOUSE was having an excellent season winning a competitive SGB Chase at Ascot (with rivals LAND LARK and MONEY MARKET behind him) and he had beaten SPANISH STEPS in the Great Yorkshire Chase. He had fallen at the first Canal Turn in 1974 but at 12-1 third favourite he carried strong hopes that he would get further this year. Of the others several debutants made appeal notably MONEY MARKET winner of the Mildmay Memorial at Sandown, former Gold Cup winner THE DIKLER who was always campaigned in the highest class and LAND LARK who was having his thirteenth race of the season. Another busy horse was KILMORE BOY who had been in action since July winning six of his sixteen races.
NEWS OF THE WORLD GRAND NATIONAL HANDICAP CHASE (78 entries) 4 1/2 miles £38,005 to the winner, £11,590 to the second, £5,720 to the third & £2,785 to the fourth
1 210314 RED RUM 10, 12-0 (D.McCain) B.Fletcher
2 1-004P0 THE DICKLER 12, 11-13 (F T Walwyn) R.Barry
3 01U104 GLANDFORD BRIGG 9, 11-4 (J.Hardy) M.Blackshaw
4 23-3000 L`ESCARGOT 12, 11-3 (D L Moore - IRE) T.Carberry
5 31-0302 CLEAR CUT 11, 11-1 (W.Hall) T.Stack
6 030420 HIGH KEN 9, 11-1 (J A C Edwards) B.Brogan
7 104222 ROYAL RELIEF 11, 11-1 (E R Courage) Lord Oaksey
8 F-22P30 APRIL SEVENTH 9, 11-0 (R.Turnell) A.Turnell
9 314314 MONEY MARKET 8, 10-13 (C.Bewicke) J.King
10 21P110 ROUGH HOUSE 9, 10-12 (T F Rimell) J.Burke
11 PPP004 BARONA 9, 10-8 (R C Armytage) P.Kellaway
12 P-001PF SOUTHERN QUEST 8, 10-6 (W E Fletcher - IRE) S.Shields
13 4P2420 SPANISH STEPS 12, 10-3 (E R Courage) W.Smith
14 10100P EVEN DAWN 8, 10-4* (Wainwright) D.Mould
15 213003 BALLYRICHARD AGAIN 10, 10-1 (J.Webber) A.Webber
16 12B332 LAND LARK 10, 10-1 (T.Pocock) G.Thorner
17 310343 CASTLERUDDERY 9, 10-4* (P.McCreery - IRE) Mr T M Walsh
18 003200 MANICOU BAY 9, 10-7* (J.Gifford) R.Champion
19 3P3P-0P SHANEMAN 10, 10-0 (Mrs M Greenall) Mr P Greenall
21 031443 SPITTIN IMAGE 9, 10-0 (P.Woods - IRE) M.Cummins
23 41000P ZIMULATOR 8, 10-0 (D G Swan - IRE) Capt D Swan
24 U0304P FEEL FREE 9, 10-0 (M.James) M.Salaman
25 321221 GLEN OWEN 8, 10-0 (N.Crump) D.Atkins
26 P-30012 JUNIOR PARTNER 8, 10-0 (T F Rimell) K B White
27 321F1F RAG TRADE 9, 10-4 (A J Pitt) J.Francome
28 433203 ROUGH SILK 12, 10-0 (E J O`Grady - IRE) Mr L Urbano
29 210400 TUDOR VIEW 9, 10-0 (P.Upton) G.McNally
30 00PU-P0 BEAU BOB 12, 10-1* (S.Mellor) J.Glover
31 310214 KILMORE BOY 9, 10-2* (A.Jarvis) P.Blacker
32 F3P004 HALLY PERCY 11, 10-0 (W A Stephenson) M C Gifford
33 0UF000 BALLYATH 9, 10-0 (D.McCain) J.Bourke
S.P : 7-2 Red Rum, 13-2 L`ESCARGOT, 12-1 Rough House, 14-1 Land Lark & Money Market, 18-1 Junior Partner & Rag Trade, 20-1 Clear Cut, Glandford Brigg, Spanish Steps & The Dickler, 22-1 Glen Owen & Royal Relief, 28-1 April Seventh, High Ken & Rough Silk, 33-1 Castleruddery & Southern Quest, 40-1 Ballyrichard Again, Barona, Kilmore Boy & Manicou Bay, 50-1 Even Dawn & Spittin Image, 66-1 Feel Free & Hally Percy, 100-1 Ballyath, Beau Bob, Shaneman, Tudor View & Zimulator
Aintree debutants
April Seventh, Ballyath*, Ballyrichard Again*, Barona, Castleruddery, Even Dawn*, Feel Free, Glandford Brigg, Glen Owen*, Hally Percy*, High Ken, Junior Partner*, Kilmore Boy*, Land Lark*, Manicou Bay*, Money Market, Rag Trade, Southern Quest*, The Dickler, Tudor View, Zimulator*
Winners at Aintree
Clear Cut - Topham Trophy (1974)
Red Rum - Grand National (1973 & 1974)
Result
1st L`ESCARGOT - Tommy Carberry
2nd RED RUM - Brian Fletcher
3rd SPANISH STEPS - Bill Smith
4th MONEY MARKET - Jeff King
5th THE DICKLER - Ron Barry
6th MANICOU BAY - Bob Champion
7th SOUTHERN BAY - S.Shields
8th GLANFORD BRIGG - M. Blackshaw
9th HALLY PERCY - Macer Gifford
10th RAG TRADE - John Francome
Time : 9 minutes 31.1 secs
Distances : 15-8-12-6-10
Owned by Raymond Guest
Trained by Dan Moore in Ireland
1976 - Rag Trade
The winner
The fates were not kind to Rag Trade. A leg injury restricted him to just two starts in 1976-77 and his season was over after he fell in the Hennessy Cognac Gold Cup. Amid acrimony between his co-owners he was moved from Fred Rimells yard and returned to George Fairburn for the next season. Having been off the course for over fourteen months he returned to action in a three runner race at Teesside Park finishing a distant last behind the useful Broncho II. He won his next start (also at the defunct course) and on the back of that victory he started favourite for his third National in 1978. It was a sad end to a fine horse. Never with the leaders he broke down so badly on the second circuit that the racecourse vets could not save him and he was put down.
Leading Fancies
With L`Escargot earning an honourable retirement RED RUM returned to Aintree without his old adversary to worry about. Although campaigned in the usual way he was without a win in eight starts and was clearly no longer showing anything like his Aintree form over conventional birch fences. After a lacklustre display at Newcastle regular jockey Brian Fletcher was replaced by the popular Tommy Stack who had ironically briefly trained the horse before his move to McCain. Favouritism went to the Roddy Armtage trained BARONA who had had his rider pulled off at first Bechers the previous year but had gained some compensation when landing the Scottish Grand National a week later. This year he was without a win but had finished second to the subsequent Gold Cup winner Royal Frolic in the Greenall Whitley Breweries Chase at Haydock. Stamina would not be a problem for debutant JOLLY`S CLUMP who had won two valuable long distance chases at the turn of the year, the Bass Handicap at Cheltenham and the Warwick National. Another making his first trip to Aintree was TREGARRON who had won four of his last five starts at Market Rasen, Catterick (twice) and Ayr. The Irish trained grey PROLAN attracted a lot of support following his win in the Kim Muir at the Cheltenham Festival and another in good form was the recently purchased GOLDEN RAPPER who had won the valuable Leopardstown Chase when trained in Ireland. Of those that had run well in 1975 both THE DIKLER who had just run in his sixth consecutive Gold Cup and SPANISH STEPS were considered at thirteen to be too old to have a realistic chance but MONEY MARKET was in the form of his life winning a second consecutive Peter Cazalet/Mildmay Memorial at Sandown and in the Gold Cup he had made most of the running before fading to finish fourth. One horse however who had not had a happy 1975 was RAG TRADE who had trailed in the rear for the whole race before finishing a distant last of the ten finishers. He had changed stables and now in the hands of Fred Rimell he had won a very competitive Welsh National (his second "National" having won the Midlands equivalent at the end of 1975). His jockey John Burke had high hopes of of a famous double having partnered Royal Frolic to his victory at Cheltenham.
Incidentally this was the first year I started cutting out the racecard in the newspaper, the first year of my racing scrapbook (I was eight years old - how sad is that ?) - I still have it somewhere. I think this is where the obsession with collecting all things National-related began. It is certainly the first year I remember choosing a horse to win. So for the from now on here are my selections : -
The Anoraks Selection : RED RUM.
Each-way choice : HIGH KEN
NEWS OF THE WORLD GRAND NATIONAL HANDICAP CHASE (76 entries) 4 1/2 miles, £37,420 to the winner, £11,410 to the second, £5,630 to the third & £2,740 to the fourth
1 U30300 RED RUM 11, 10-10 (D.McCain) T.Stack
2 322030 THE DICKLER 13, 11-7 (F T Walwyn) R.Barry
3 414230 GLANDFORD BRIGG 10, 11-3 (J.Hardy) M.Blackshaw
4 431404 MONEY MARKET 9, 11-0 (C.Bewicke) R.Champion
5 20UP02 HIGH KEN 10, 10-12 (J A C Edwards) M.Dickinson
6 1-P04F1 RAG TRADE 10, 10-12 (T F Rimell) J.Burke
7 333333 HIGHWAY VIEW 11, 10-10 (J.Cox - IRE) P.Black
9 214020 ROMAN BAR 7, 10-10 (P.Taaffe - IRE) G.Newman
10 41-0121 GOLDEN RAPPER 10, 10-8 (F T Winter) J.Francome
11 2132P4 EYECATCHER 10, 10-7 (J R Bosley) B.Fletcher
12 3-02332 BARONA 10, 10-6 (R C Armytage) P.Kellaway
13 121-221 CEOL-NA-MARA 7, 10-6 (S.Mellor) J.Glover
14 11321F CHURCHTOWN BOY 9, 10-6 (M.Salaman) M.Salaman
15 330100 PERPOL 10, 10-6 (W.Charles) K B White
16 141221 PROLAN 7, 10-3 (E J O`Grady - IRE) M F Morris
18 4-12211 JOLLY`S CLUMP 10, 10-3* (H Thomson-Jones) I.Watkinson
19 030214 MERRY MAKER 11, 10-2 (G C Doidge) Mr A Mildmay-White
20 212111 TREGARRON 9, 10-1 (J K M Oliver) C.Tinkler
21 FU14U2 BLACK TUDOR 8, 10-0 (G.Kindersley) G.Thorner
22 00-1041 NEREO 10, 10-1* (F T Winter) Duke of Alberquerque
23 110304 COLONDINE 9, 10-0 (I M Dudgeon) B.Forsey
24 F-0301P HUPERADE 12, 10-4* (G R Owen) Mr J Carden
26 013203 SPANISH STEPS 13, 10-2* (E R Courage) J.King
27 30221U MERIDIAN II 9, 10-0 (D.McCain) J J O`Neill
28 340404 SANDWILAN 8, 10-0 (J S Wright) R.Hyett
29 22U200 TUDOR VIEW 10, 10-0 (P J Upton) C.Read
32 30F211 BALLYBRIGHT 9, 10-0 (F.Cundell) Mr S Morshead
33 2234P4 SPITTIN IMAGE 10, 10-0 (M J Scudamore) A.Turnell
34 12-1F00 INDIAN DIVA 9, 10-3* (M J Thorne) Mr N Henderson
35 0000P0 THOMOND 11, 10-3* (Miss T Pearson) Mr A J Wilson
36 224301 BOOM DOCKER 9, 10-0 (D.Marks) John Williams
37 p03b00 ORMONDE TUDOR 7, 10-0 (R W Bower) - K.Barnfield
S.P : 7-1 Barona, 10-1 Red Rum, 12-1 Jolly`s Clump, Money Market & Tregarron, 13-1 Prolan, 14-1 RAG TRADE, 22-1 Ceol-na-Mara & Spanish Steps, 25-1 The Dickler, 28-1 Eyecatcher, Glandford Brigg & Golden Rapper, 33-1 Churchtown Boy, High Ken, Highway View, Meridian II & Roman Bar, 50-1 Black Tudor, Boom Docker, Merry Maker & Nereo, 60-1 Colondine, 66-1 Perpol & Spittin Image, 80-1 Ballybright, 100-1 Huperade, Indian Diva, Ormonde Tudor, Sandwilan & Tudor View
Aintree debutants (20)
Ballybright*, Black Tudor*, Boom Docker, Ceol-Na-Mara*, Churchtown Boy, Colondine*, Golden Rapper*, Highway View*, Indian Diva*, Jollys Clump*, Meridian II*, Merry Maker*, Ormonde Tudor*, Perpol*, Prolan*, Roman Bar, Sandwilan, Spittin Image, Thomond*, Tregarron*
Winner at Aintree
Red Rum - Grand National (1973 & 1974)
Result
1st RAG TRADE - John Burke
2nd RED RUM - Tommy Stack
3rd EYECATCHER - Brian Fletcher
4th BARONA - Paul Kelleway
5th CEOL-NA-MARA - J.Glover
6th THE DICKLER - Ron Barry
7th SANDWILAN - R.Hyett
8th SPITTIN IMAGE - Andy Turnell
9th SPANISH STEPS - Jeff King
10th BLACK TUDOR - G.Thorner
11th CHURCHTOWN BOY - M.Salaman
12th HIGHWAY VIEW - P.Black
13th JOLLY`S CLUMP - Ian Watkinson
14th MONEY MARKET - Bob Champion
15th COLONDINE - Brian Forsey
16th INDIAN DIVA - Mr N.Henderson
Time : 9 minutes 20.9 secs
Distances : 2-8-3-2 1/2-10
Owned by Pierre Raymond
Trained by Fred Rimell at Kinnersley, Worcestershire