It's 50 years since Red Rum's first National - but let's remember it as Crisp's day

As a young racing fan in the early 1980s, Red Rum was my ultimate hero, of course. The only horse to win the Grand National three times, he was famed far beyond the world of racing, which I had already figured out was a pretty narrow one.

But the more time passes, the more my feelings seem to pass over to one of his many victims. It was 50 years ago on Friday that Crisp put up the most amazing performance in defeat that any British racecourse has seen and I'm starting to wonder why there isn't a statue of him.

I apologise if you can remember watching the race as it happened and I've put you in a reflective mood by pointing out the milestone we're passing. Half a century since the most memorable race. Amazing.