Mared had previously been branded unraceable by trainer Phonnsie O'Brien who returned the excitable filly to McEnery as a two year old. But McEnery produced Mared to win a seven furlong race at Galway - her sole success in five starts - despite having to drench her with a bucket of water to remove the froth of sweat she worked up before even entering the parade ring. First Entry Win An average-sized bay colt was foaled on May 3, , at 6 pm. A pleased McEnery expected to make a tidy profit when coming to sell him at Goffs September Sales, but fate again took a hand.
The Mared colt appeared to walk stiffly behind when led into the ring to be sold, and when Tim Molony bid Guineas, McEnery reluctantly allowed him to go.
Molony attended the sales armed with pinpoint instructions from Maurice Kingsley, for whom he had ridden the three times winner of the Champion Hurdle, Sir Ken. Now a trainer himself, Molony was to buy for Kingsley, who was fond of gambling on his horses, an animal to win the two year old seller at Liverpool the following March. Red Rum duly obliged. In the closing stages Red Rum had made rapid strides to catch Curlicue right on the line, going in front a stride past the post, and Molony was convinced that, given less to do early on, Red Rum would have won outright.
That day, Molony had to go to Guineas to buy the juvenile back, the price being forced upwards from an unknown quarter. Donald "Ginger" McCain was present at Aintree to witness the subsequent sale, but he was seeking jumpers, not a sprinter, and he walked away from the horse that would bring him fame six years later, long before the bidding began. Red Rum had been gelded after the sales and broken in patiently, with all the care that a great horseman such as Molony devotes to a young horse as a matter of course.
Aged only 20 months, he had been named by Kingsley just before New Year's Day of when all yearlings officially became two year olds; his owner took the last three letters from the names of his dam and sire, Ma-red and Quorum, to produce the now-household name. Extraordinary Resilience Red Rum ran in that first selling race before he was fully two years of age and remained in training semi-constantly for the next 11 years. It is testimony to Red Rum's extraordinary resilience that, trained to draw on his supposed precocity but then asked to continue racing until he was 13, he never lost his enthusiasm.
He was busy during his career, especially when his talents were not deemed to be extraordinary. Tommy Stack, who rode Red Rum 43 times and briefly trained him, thought him "disappointing" in his early days and often handled the horse accordingly in a race - "driven out", "hard ridden", Chaseform consistently reported. Red Rum won again as a two year old and finished in the frame on three other occasions. But although he won on his three years old debut - a seven furlong selling handicap at doncaster - he incurred his owner's displeasure when Molony was again forced to bid higher than expected to buy him in afterwards.
After his next race, Molony was unexpectedly informed by the shrewd old Yorkshire trainer Bobby Renton that he had bought Red Rum on behalf of his close friend and owner, Mrs.
Lurline "Muffie" Brotherton. She had been trying to win the Grand National again since , when Renton sent out Freebooter in her colours, but she would sell Red Rum seven months short of realising that ambition.
As a novice hurdler, Red Rum won three times and finished in the frame on five other occasions out of a total of ten starts. To the benefit of Red Rum's future as one of the all-time great steeplechasers, Molony had been schooling him over hurdles since he had been broken in. The horse also profited from a five-run sequence in which he was partnered by the same man, Paddy Broderick.
On the flat, Red Rum was ridden by eight different jockeys; over obstacle, he was ridden by 13, including new ones on his first six runs. McCain Enters Picture Red Rum recorded all of his three wins that season partnered by Broderick and, crucially, on the fast ground which he relished.
Molony had long guessed that the gelding hated soft ground, and would repeatedly berate Renton for making Red Rum tackle it the following season. When an ageing Renton retired, he asked Tommy Stack to take over. Stack only juggled careers as trainer-jockey for a few months before his friend, nearby trainer Anthony Gillam, suggested that he fill the breach left when Stack handed in his training licence.
But disaster struck when Red Rum acquired the debilitating bone disease pedalositis, which should have rendered him a cripple. When three separate veterinary surgeons were told, after Red Rum's triumph in the Grand National, that the horse had suffered from that affliction, they dismissed the idea as impossible. Aware of heat in Red Rum's off-fore after racing, but encouraged by Renton, among others, that it needed only minor treatment, an uncertain Gillam had kept the horse going on a busy campaign.
They returned to repeat that triumph the following year, although Fletcher always maintained the highlight of his career was winning the Scottish Grand National on the legendary horse later in Fletcher finished third in the National on Eyecatcher in but retired later that year. He began to farm sheep and breed Welsh Cobs near Bishop Auckland before eventually moving to west Wales.
It wasn't easy to make a living round the northern tracks and you had to be very brave in those days. The National was a very tough race —you used to wake up at 4am on the day worrying about it! Gerry Scott, who won the National on Merryman II in , rode against Fletcher for several seasons and said: "He was one hell of a horseman, you don't ride three Grand National winners and not know what you're doing. And he was a very decent man. I remember I won the Becher Chase and finished third in the National on Forest Prince, but then I was injured so Brian rang me to ask how to ride him as he was quite tricky.
He would make appearances at supermarkets, bookmakers and other special events. Many considered him to be a national hero. He remains the only horse to ever win both races in the same season.
Red Rum suffered from an incurable disease called pedal osteitis, which is an inflammatory condition of the pedal bone coffin bone which results in demineralization. Horses with pedal osteitis often experience pain and lameness in the affected hoof.
However, McCain would notice horses with similar problems recovered after working on the soft Southport sands at the Irish Sea. This led him to take Red Rum to the beach frequently, where he would run in the shallow sandy water. The pair was even known to go on therapeutic swims from time to time. Steeplechasing is an exciting sport that combines the speed of racing and the agility of jumping. However, it can be a dangerous sport, as both horses and riders can fall while completing the course.
During his steeplechasing career, Red Rum competed in races. Over the course of those races, he never fell once. His natural ability for jumping and speed helped him soar across race tracks with no problem. Red Rum died on October 18,, at the age of
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