John Ingles looks back at Red Rum's Scottish Grand National victory in 1974, weeks after winning for the second time at Aintree.
Red Rum’s second Grand National win, when he defied top weight of 12-0 to beat the former dual Gold Cup winner L’Escargot by an easy seven lengths, was just about the finest performance of his illustrious career and earned him a Timeform rating of 166. It was his fifth win from nine starts so far that season (he’d also been disqualified after passing the post first on another occasion) and came on the back of a similarly prolific campaign in 1972/73 (six wins from nine starts) after joining Ginger McCain’s Southport yard, which was famously situated at the back of the second-hard car dealership that the trainer also ran.
Once the celebrations of that record-equalling Aintree win had died down, McCain began to assemble further end-of-season plans for his stable star, with tilts at the Scottish Grand National at Ayr, Whitbread Gold Cup at Sandown and Grand Steeplechase de Paris at Auteuil all reportedly under consideration.
Red Rum’s octogenarian owner Noel Le Mare left the decision to McCain, who soon discovered that he was firmly in the minority by considering a tilt at the Ayr showpiece, which fell three weeks after Aintree in 1974. His wife Beryl was dead against the idea, whilst there was little support to be found in the wider racing world - BBC horse racing presenter Julian Wilson even went to the trouble of writing McCain a letter imploring him not to run the horse again, explaining that horses can’t come back so quickly after the Grand National to run as well in the Scottish version.
Red Rum’s jockey Brian Fletcher also had misgivings, citing the experience of his previous Grand National winner as a warning shot. ‘I was totally opposed to the decision. Red Alligator attempted the great double in 1968 and at Ayr he was a dead horse who just didn’t want to know - in fact he was never the same horse again. I believed that Red Rum had earned a rest. I voiced my objections, but Mr McCain would not be deterred.’
Indeed, McCain stood his ground and sent Red Rum to Ayr, even after the unexpected news (at least for the trainer - ‘I never read the rule book!’) that Red Rum would have to shoulder a 6lb penalty, which took his weight up to 11-13. McCain did, however, confess to being in torment watching the race and feared the potential backlash had the decision backfired.
Fletcher, meanwhile, still had reservations about Red Rum on what was his tenth race in seven months: ‘He did look gloriously well in the paddock, but he didn’t give me the same feeling cantering down to the start as he did at Liverpool and throughout the race he wasn’t as fresh.’
Fletcher nursed Red Rum into the race, moving him up to a prominent position only in the back straight on the final circuit as Proud Tarquin made the running under John Oaksey. Red Rum joined the long-time leader once in line for home and the pair were in the air together over the final three fences before Red Rum asserted on the run-in, pulling four lengths clear of Proud Tarquin who was in receipt of 20 lb. That was close to Cheltenham Gold Cup-standard form; a week later, the runner-up passed the post first in the Whitbread Gold Cup ahead of the Gold Cup runner-up The Dikler who was giving Proud Tarquin 24 lb.
Red Rum returned to a tremendous ovation at Ayr from a crowd of 18,000 – ‘it made the Hampden Roar sound a mere ripple’ - was the verdict of the following Monday’s edition of The Sporting Life. ‘What a reception,’ said McCain. ‘The owner of Proud Tarquin, Sir John Thompson, came over and said ‘It’s a privilege to be beaten by a horse like that’.’
McCain resisted the temptation to travel to Sandown and Auteuil subsequently, with the final word going to his wife Beryl – who’d been at Bangor on Scottish National day because she’d ‘had the wind up’ about the decision to run at Ayr. ‘I can remember the missus sitting up in bed and saying ‘if you run that horse again, I’ll leave you!’’
Red Rum nevertheless ended 1973/74 with a prize money haul of £36,781, which bettered the record total he’d set in 1972/73 of £28,882 (Arkle had amassed the best seasonal figure prior to Red Rum), whilst he was also the overwhelming winner when votes were counted for the 1974 National Hunt Horse of the Year award.
Ayr racecourse, meanwhile, immediately commissioned a statue to commemorate Red Rum’s historic win (he remains the only horse to complete the Aintree-Ayr double in the same season), which was unveiled at the 1975 Scottish Grand National. Le Mare and McCain were present at the ceremony and so too, controversially, was Red Rum in a bid to repeat his 1974 win under top weight.
There was just a fortnight between the two races in 1975, whilst in contrast to his easy Aintree victory in 1974 Red Rum travelled to Ayr after a punishing second to L’Escargot who avenged his defeat from the year before. McCain later blamed the decision to run on getting caught up in the horse’s fame: ‘I don’t know, he seemed sharp and well…and there was this statue...but it was a diabolical boob to run him – that race might have started to bottom him.’
In spite of this, Red Rum was sent off a short-priced favourite but laboured to a never-dangerous seventh of twelve finishers behind Barona (who would win again in 1976), with Fletcher, who was to lose the ride the following autumn, remarking upon dismounting that ‘the horse was never going.’
Red Rum ran in the Scottish Grand National one more time – finishing a well-beaten favourite (100/30) under new regular partner Tommy Stack when again turned out under top weight (including a 6lb penalty) at the age of twelve, just a fortnight on from his record-breaking third Grand National win.