My first ever goldfish was called Red Rum. I won it (him?) at a point to point, so to a seven-year-old me, the name seemed utterly logical. I didn’t know anything about Red Rum – only that he was a racehorse. I did know his name however; and I don’t think I could have named many, or even any, other racehorses.
That’s the power of Red Rum – arguably this country’s most famous race horse – and this year marks the fortieth anniversary of his historic third win in the Grand National. He’s the only horse to ever have won the race three times, and when, aged 12, he returned to the track in 1977 for another go – having come second in ’75 and ’76 – many people thought he was too old to win. But he proved them all wrong.
Watching that 1977 race
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