For equestrian fans, a lot of exciting racing events take place throughout the world. However, none of them comes even close to the Grand National, the National Hunt horse race that is held annually at Aintree Racecourse in April every year.
The favourite hobby of countless punters around the globe is to bet on Grand National and see how good they are at predicting outcomes.
Fred Rimell
Fred Rimell and Ginger McCain are the most successful trainers in the history of the Grand National. Each won the prestigious race four times. However, while McCain’s three victories came with one horse only, Rimell claimed the coveted prize with four different horses.
The great British trainer was very lucky for his first triumph at Aintree in 1956. Devon Loch’s victory was looking certain as he had a huge lead towards the ending stages of the race. However, the Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother owned horse inexplicably collapsed and that allowed E.S.B. to win.
Rimell repeated the same feat five years later at the 1961 Grand National with Nicolaus Silver who became the second grey in history to win the prestigious race. Then, Gay Trip won him the third title in 1970.
However, the most memorable moment for the trainer came in the 1976 Grand National when Rag Trade got the best of the legendary Red Rum, providing Rimell with the fourth National.
Ginger McCain
In 1972, an inconsistent horse was put on a sale at an auction. Ginger McCain saw potential in that horse and on behalf of Noel Le Mare, parted with 6000 guineas and bought him.
That decision of the English horse trainer proved to be hugely rewarding as the horse (named Red Rum) gave him extraordinary success. The legendary racehorse managed to defeat Crisp by a very narrow margin at the 1973 Grand National, despite his opponent being 15 lengths clear at the last fence. And after that, he won the next year’s race too.
However, the great racehorse failed to triumph in the famous race’s following two editions. Everybody started believing that his time was over, but Red Rum proved them all wrong by claiming a remarkable success at Aintree again. This way, he became the first horse in history to win three Nationals.
McCain didn’t win any more races until Amberleigh House gave him the fourth title in 2004.
Vincent O’Brien
Success is a very broad term. It can be as vague as landing a best cheap 3D Printer at a bargain price or as distinct and concrete as winning the greatest steeplechase in the world – the Grand National. And Vincent O’Brien made his horse racing success as blindingly clear and marked that no equestrian fan could ever forget his name.
The Irish horse trainer has the distinction of winning three successive Grand Nationals with three different horses. He claimed his first win in 1953 with Early Mist before Royal Tan achieved the honour for him the following year. He won the third title when Pat Taafe steered Quare Times to success at Aintree in 1955.
