Features 
/ Dan Fitch / 30 March 2011 / Leave a Comment 
The legend of Red Rum lives on at Aintree.
Dan Fitch takes a look at Red Rum's five Grand National appearances which saw the horse win the race on three occasions.
When you think of the World Cup, images of Pele and Maradona come to mind. Wimbledon evokes memories of McEnroe, while the Masters at Augusta belongs to Jack Nicklaus.
Some sporting greats and certain events will be forever entwined and when it comes to the Grand National, no horse is more synonymous with the race than Red Rum.
Rummie ran in five Grand Nationals, winning it three times and coming second twice. Join us as we look back at Red Rum's five Grand National appearances.
Red Rum entered the Grand National for the first time in 1973 and though he won the race, it was the second-placed Crisp who had everyone talking the next day.
Crisp was an Australian horse and started the 1973 National as the 9-1 joint favourite. This tag looked justified when Crisp was some 20 lengths ahead halfway through the race, but gradually Red Rum managed to gain ground and just managed to pip the tiring Crisp on the line.
Having carried some 24lbs more than Red Rum, Crisp's performance is considered to be one of the greatest of any second-placed runner at the National and it took a course record from Ginger McCain's horse to beat him.
Red Rum would prove that his first National win wasn't a fluke, when he became the first horse to win the race in successive years since Reynoldstown in 1936.
Starting as the 11-1 third favourite, Red Rum was racing off a mark two stone heavier than in 1973. Rummie's second win secured a love affair with the general public and just three weeks later, Red Rum was back in the headlines as he won the Scottish Grand National.
Having won the race in the proceeding two years, the big question in 1975 was whether Red Rum could win a third successive Grand National.
Rummie could have barely come closer to achieving just that and was leading the race at the last fence, only to be overtaken by the two-time Gold Cup winner L'Escargot.
The year of 1976 saw Red Rum make another valiant attempt to win a third Grand National, only to finish second again.
This time it was Rag Trade who got the better of him. Red Rum never gave up and was closing on the back straight, but just couldn't make up enough ground. As is often the way with the British public, these near misses would only strengthen their affection towards Rummie.
Red Rum finally won his third and final Grand National in 1977 as a 12-year old. Ginger McCain had planned Red Rum's whole season in preparation for the race and he wasn't let down on the day.
It was ultimately a fairly routine victory, as Red Rum took up the lead soon after Becher's and saw off a challenge from Churchtown Boy to romp home to a rapturous reception.
Red Rum was set to try for a fourth win in 1978, only to pull up a day before the race with a hairline fracture. The nation's favourite racehorse and the greatest Grand National winner of all time was forced into retirement. When he died 17 years later in 1995, Red Rum was buried at the winning post at Aintree.
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