Features 
/ Dan Fitch / 16 February 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Dan Fitch takes a look at the men behind the horses that have won the Grand National, as he profiles the trainers who've had the most success in the race.
Behind every great horse is a great trainer. At the 2011 Grand National, Nigel Twiston-Davies will attempt to win the race for a third time and join the elite brand of post-war trainers who have enjoyed more than two wins at Aintree.
Twiston-Davies will be looking at the likes of Hello Bud, who is available at [40.0], to allow him to enter the history books alongside the following legends of the training track. Here are the five most successful Grand National trainers.
Neville Crump picked up his first Grand National win in 1948, when Sheila's Cottage became the first mare to win the race since 1902, despite a starting price of an unfancied 50-1.
Crump's second winner came in 1952, when Teal was victorious, after the race had to be re-started when the forty seven runners charged the tape. His third and final win came in the first televised National in 1960, when the favourite Merryman II romped home.
It's fair to say that Tim Forster was a pessimist. When the American amateur jockey asked Forster for advice before setting off on Ben Nevis in the 1980 Grand Nationa, Forster replied: "Keep remounting." Despite his trainer's lack of faith, the 40-1 shot went on to win the race.
That was Forster's second National win, after first winning the race with Well To Do in 1972. His third came in 1985 with Last Suspect, but very nearly didn't occur. With Forster downbeat about Last Suspect's chances, it was only due to the insistence of it's jockey Hywel Davies that the horse ran. It came in as a 50-1 winner.
In the fifties, Vincent O'Brien achieved the notable distinction of training the winner of three successive Grand Nationals, with three different horses. He started the run in 1953, when the 20-1 shot Early Mist ran to victory.
1954 saw O'Brien train his second National winner when Royal Tan won the race, before completing a hat-trick in 1955, as Pat Taafe rode Quare Times to Grand National success.
In 1972 Lurline Brotherton put an inconsistent horse up for sale at an auction at Doncaster. Donald 'Ginger' McCain paid 6000 Guineas for the horse, on behalf of Noel Le Mare. The horse was called 'Red Rum'.
Red Rum and his trainer Ginger McCain would enjoy their first Grand National win in 1973 and would be victorious again in 1974, before completing a historic treble in 1977.
No jumper has ever won the National on more occasions, but McCain would prove that his success wasn't just a case of getting lucky with an exceptional horse, when he won a fourth Grand National in 2004 with Amberleigh House - a remarkable 31 years after his original triumph.
McCain's fourth National win equalled the record set by Fred Rimell, whose achievement was all the more special for the fact that his wins came with four different horses.
Rimell's first win came in 1956, when Devon Loch inexplicably collapsed to allow ESB to snatch victory. His second followed five years later in 1961, as Nicolaus Silver became only the second grey in history to win the National.
Gay trip provided Rimell with his third victory in 1970, but perhaps the greatest achievement was left till last. In 1976 Rimell's Rag Trade managed to pip the legendary Red Rum, to give his trainer a final victory.
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