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Joe,
Thank you for sharing your excellent story.
Perhaps you have another one or more to share? I shall
wait with keen anticipation.Have a good weekend,
Dave
Fantastic post Joe, fantastic. I can only imagine how sad it must have been walking up to the winning post to bury Red Rum
Perhaps not a good time to read this when I’m feeling an emotional wreck after watching Frankel, but it reinforces an awareness I’ve had today of feeling very sorry for people that don’t watch and love racing. Aren’t we the lucky ones….[jeeez what I’d give for one of those racecards!]
Sorry a bit late on this one, and what a lovely story (gulp
).I’ll never forget the day he died. I was in such a state I had to be sent home from work because I just could not stop crying.
Even though I knew he’d had a good retirement and lived to a great age, it seemed like the end of the world.I remember it even more clearly than Elvis, Princess Di etc. Totally devastated
Thank you,what an amazing story.
I always felt he was there willing Amberleigh House on at the finish to win in 2004.Never met Rummy but did get to see Amberleigh House when he was stabled at the National Stud Newmarket for a while in October 2006.
Desert Orchid, who had returned to David Elsworth yard, was there for an open day for his fan club..6 weeks later Dessie had gone and I was so glad that I had been there to see him, just as you had seen Rummy on his 30th Birthday and had given everyone a chance to say a final farewell.
Two great legends gone but not forgotten.
[attachment=0:3238e1o5]dessie and rummy.jpg[/attachment:3238e1o5]Things turn out best for those who make the best of how things turn out...What a lovely photo
Thank you Tryptych.Old Rummy looks a bit bored to meet yet another fan, but the look on Dessie’s beautiful face is fabulous
Great post, and from the heart.
Amazing to think that "Rummy" ran in 100 races during his career. winning 24 and placed in 38. Remarkable horse.
I can vividly recall watching the 1973 Grand National; and like a few thousand others, I backed top weight, Crisp. It was almost tragic to see him losing after such a titanic performance. No one knew then that the horse who beat him that day would become a legend.
People tend to forget that they met again that year, at Doncaster in November ’73, where Crisp exacted some revenge, beating Rummy in a match race by a " distance "
For me though, Red Rum’s ’74 victory was his greatest achievement. Carrying top weight of 12st, when he defeated dual Gold Cup winner, L’Escargot, who would gain revenge over Rummy at Aintree a year later.
Red Rum also won the Scottish National a few weeks later under top weight.
Of course, probably his most memorable triumph was his third victory in ’77, after again finishing runner-up in 1976. It is not being disrespectful to say that Rummy got a huge chunk of luck in ’77, as it looked highly unlikely that he would have prevailed, given that Andy Pandy fell when leading by a fair bit. Red Rum, then 12, took full advantage and the rest is history.
Gambling Only Pays When You're Winning
That was a smashing piece of prose Joe
I read it three times on the spin!
http://stucartoons.co.uk/cartoonDetails.asp?id=23
To this day he’s the only Grand National (Aintree) & Scottish Grand National (Ayr) winner in the same season. According to Ginger McCain in an interview around 1990 (on tape) he said the trouble is that horses jump to big after Aintree. He also fancied doing the Whitbread (Sandown) after Ayr but said his wife talked him out of it.
Rummy had beaten the "first past the post" of the Whitbread in the Ayr national and was better off as well, according to McCain.
However his greatest run in the National was his second to L’Escargot in 1975. Running in going he hated (again according to McCain) and giving weight away to a dual Gold Cup winner. L’Escargot himself nearly went early on in that race, but managed to find a leg to survive.
As for the luck in the 77 version and Andy Pandy looking the probable winner, I agree 100% and I backed him that year.
Thanks for highlighting this I’ve not seen it before.
What a wonderful story and so beautifully told.
Wonderful story, thank you so much for sharing. Red Rum was the horse that bought me into racing, aged about 14 I followed him through all his National’s. I had the amazing experience to see the horse very close at a County show, where he paraded, this was an enormously quality little horse and his look was one of which I have never really seen again, certainly no ‘old fashioned’ chaser. A lesson for anyone looking to learn about conformation, Red Rum is no better example, he was close to perfection.
I know exactly where I was when the announcement came through, driving along a country lane.
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