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ESPN Classic, sky channel 442 are showing a detailed re run on Friday afternoon at 17.55 and then again on Saturday at 13.55, followed by the 1977 race. Its surely what sky plus record was made for. Crisp wins this time.
I remember watching the race "live" on TV at the time and I have seen it over again more times than I care to remember.
Much as I love Red Rum and what he achieved, I still even now will Crisp to hang on and get across the line in front.
It has to rank as one of the most heartbreaking defeats in racing and it must be one of the few races where the runner-up is remembered as much as the winner.
Had Red Rum not beaten him he would have been a double winner of the National and not the legend he was to become, therefore Crisp would have gone down in history as just another winner of the race. Two brave and truly great horses; it’s as if they needed each other to prove each others brilliance…..
I backed Crisp to win the 73 National.
It was heartbreaking to watch the big horse jump like a stag all the way round only for him to run out of petrol on the run in.
Even so, I still think to this day that had Dick Pitman (who appeared every bit as tired as Crisp) not panicked, then I believe that he and Crisp might just have held on.
It was an incredible effort from the top weight but hats off to Red Rum. He proved it was no fluke by returning a year later to win the National again carrying top weight – and then the Scottish National at Ayr.
*Crisp did gain his revenge over Red Rum over 3m 2f at Doncaster in November 1973, beating him by a distance.
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