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Grand
National winner Red Rum, making his racecourse re-appearance after
his scintillating performance at Aintree in April, had his colours
lowered in the more humble surroundings of Perth.
The
epic battle with Crisp at Aintree in April had taken more than its
usual toll on Red Rum and he was given a long summer at rest, not
coming back into work until late August of that year. With the following
year's National the main target of the season, his trainer 'Ginger'
McCain planned his season carefully. He came to hand very quickly
and was soon into strong work. He was so well in himself that Ginger
thought that he really had to get him back on the racecourse soon
just to preserve his state of mind. Thinking that an "easy"
race at a small track might just be the ticket he was entered in
the Perthshire Challenge Cup Handicap Chase on 26th September. On
the day however things were not quite what Ginger had planned. For
a start he was surprised at how sharp Perth was, and was not sure
how his horse would handle the tight bends. His challengers on the
day were not the motley collection of beach donkeys he had been
expecting. Indeed the favourite was the Gordon Richards trained
Proud Stone who had already won a race this season, and more to
the point Red Rum had to give him a stone in weight and was far
from race fit. Even so, Red Rum ridden by Brian Fletcher, put up
one of his trademark performances and positively sprinted to the
line, winning by an easy one and a half lengths.
The massive crowd were ecstatic and cheered their favourite all
the way back to the winners enclosure. As congratulations were being
exchanged around the course, a bombshell struck. Ron Barry, the
rider of second horse Proud Stone, had objected to the winner on
the grounds "squeezing over the last and squeezing on the run-in".
Observers could hardly believe the audacity of Barry as he was one
of the toughest jockeys in the game and the thought of anyone squeezing
him was ludicrous. However the stewards gave him a hearing and to
everyone's disbelief upheld his objection. There were no camera
patrols in these days but even in spite of that most observers clearly
saw enough space between the horses to drive a horsebox. Photographic
evidence produced later confirmed that view.
Never one to harbour a grudge Ginger McCain accepted the decision
as part of the ups and downs of the game. However he never let Ron
Barry forget what he did to his favourite "Rummy" and
on Barry's wedding he sent him a framed print of the evidence with
the caption "SQUEEZE ME!"
Sadly Red Rum was never to race again at Perth but Ginger McCain
is still a frequent and welcome visitor.
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