Ginger McCain has long been synonymous with the John Smith’s Grand National thanks to the exploits of Red Rum, so it was fitting that Amberleigh House’s success in the 2004 renewal saw the Cheshire handler join the great Fred Rimell in the record books. Those two are the only trainers who have won the world’s most famous chase four times.

Red Rum collected three Grand Nationals for McCain (1973, 1974 and 1977) and Rimell achieved his wins with four different horses - E.S.B. (1956), Nicolaus Silver (1961), Gay Trip (1970) and Rag Trade (1976) who took the race at the expense of McCain and
top-weight Red Rum.

While McCain forged a legend from nothing in the small yard behind his Southport car showroom, Rimell inherited a Grand National-winning tradition from his father Tom, who sent out Forbra from the famous Kinnersley yard in Worcestershire to win the great race in 1932. Regardless of his family heritage in racing, Rimell’s achievements were remarkable. He was a champion jump jockey four times between 1938 and 1946, before a second broken neck in the space of eight months in 1947 prompted a switch to training.

Rimell turned Kinnersley into one of the most powerful yards in England, winning four trainer’s titles and almost every big race in the calendar before his death in 1981, including the Cheltenham Gold Cup with Woodland Venture (1967) and Royal Frolic (1976), and the Champion Hurdle with Comedy Of Errors (1973 and 1975).

At Aintree, Rimell reigned supreme, complementing his four Grand National triumphs with three victories in the Grand Sefton Chase, courtesy of Nicolaus Silver (1961), Red Thorn (1964) and his subsequent Scottish Grand National hero The Fossa (1965). E.S.B.’s 1956 Grand National victory under Dave Dick is memorable for the sensational collapse of Devon Loch 50 yards from the line, with the race all but won. Devon Loch’s mishap under Dick Francis left E.S.B. to stride home 10 lengths clear of Gentle Moya. But the 10-year-old was a fine horse in his own right and went on to win the 1957 Great Yorkshire Chase and the Lancashire Chase two years later.

Rimell unearthed an Aintree specialist for the 1961 marathon in the handsome form of Nicolaus Silver, one of only two greys to have won the Grand National - the other being The Lamb, successful in both 1868 and 1871. Nicolaus Silver cost £2,000 at the 1960 Goffs Sale in Ireland. He captured the big race the following spring by five lengths from
Merryman II before taking the Grand Sefton under 11st 10lb. He ran in the next two Grand Nationals, completing both times. Gay Trip was twice successful in the Mackeson Gold Cup (1969 and 1971) at Cheltenham but proved a revelation over four and a half miles around Aintree in 1970 when he triumphed under Pat Taaffe. He fell at the first in the 1971 Grand National and, giving 22lb to Well To Do, failed by only two lengths to overhaul that rival when runner-up in the 1972 race. Rimell was the first jump trainer to accrue prize money of £100,000 in a season in 1976.

Rag Trade’s win under John Burke that spring saw him become the first trainer to win the Grand National four times and the first to add the great race to the Cheltenham Gold Cup in the same season since Basil Briscoe saddled Golden Miller to win both in 1934.
That success took Rimell clear of seven other trainers who captured the Grand National on three occasions – William Holman, William Moore, Aubrey Hastings, Tom Coulthwaite, Vincent O’Brien, Neville Crump and Captain Tim Forster. O’Brien remarkably saddled the winner in three successive years, with Early Mist (1953), Royal Tan (1954) and Quare Times (1955).

Jenny Pitman, the only female trainer to win the race, sent Corbiere to victory in 1983 and Royal Athlete in 1995. Her Esha Ness was first past the post in 1993, only for the race to be declared void due to a false start.

Alongside the three wins in the Aintree marathon, McCain saddled ‘Rummy’ to take the runner-up spot in 1975 and 1976. For more information on Red Rum, see page 26. The 77-year-old, who retired in June, 2006, waited a quarter of a century to discover another horse capable of carrying on the legacy of the immortal Red Rum.

Red Marauder in 2001 but won the totesport.com Becher Chase over the course the following November, a race in which he also twice finished runner-up. He competed over the Grand National fences 11 times, including in the 2002 John Smith’s Topham Trophy where he finished ninth after failing to make the cut for the Grand National.

Amberleigh House contested the Grand National five times and was third behind Monty’s Pass in the 2003 renewal. He improved on that in 2004 as he rallied late under Graham Lee to collar Clan Royal and give McCain another slice of history. The chaser came home 10th in 2005 and was pulled up before the 21st of the 30 fences as a 14-year-old in 2006, his final start before an honourable retirement. McCain, who was honoured at a special dinner with 220 people including Fred Rimell’s widow Mercy at Aintree Racecourse on November 18, 2006, reckons that Amberleigh House has jumped more Grand National fences than any other horse in history.