Racing: The day Ginger's valiant hope almost started a House party

Grand National: McCain defies cynics to stir memories of beloved Red Rum

Just for a few tantalising seconds, as the leaders brushed through the last fence and the 65,000 pairs of eyes prepared for the dénouement, the spectacle evoked the scene acted out 30 years ago; of the valiant Crisp, laden with top weight, in command, but with Red Rum looming up menacingly before proceeding to claim the first of his three Grand Nationals. The image evidently did not escape Red Rum's trainer, Ginger McCain, either.

This time, it was his 11-year-old Amber-leigh House, denied a run in the race last year after missing the cut because his weight was too low, who was poised within range of the leader, Monty's Pass. Even those of us who had put a few bob down on the eventual victor would have been prepared to forgo the pleasure of collecting – well, perhaps not Mike Futter, the head of the syndicate who own Monty's Pass and who collected a tidy few hundred thousand pounds – just for the sight of witnessing the expression on McCain's rubicund features and hearing the ensuing observations from a man who believes that reverence should be confined to vicars and priests.

At that instant, this observer recalled his final words on a recent visit to his Cheshire stables: "This horse has got a serious chance" Could it possibly happen? Would the leader yet falter and allow Amberleigh House, ridden by Graham Lee, participating in his first National and who has boasted many winners this season but never a prestigious one, to write the septuagenarian McCain's name once more into Grand National folklore?

It was but a brief moment of delusion, and it passed with the almost immediate acceptance that Monty's Pass, partnered impeccably by Barry Geraghty, was an irresistible force on that seemingly endless run-in.

Ultimately, McCain's dark gelding, who had pursued the long-time leaders Gunner Welburn and Monty's Pass so valiantly, was passed by Supreme Glory, another horse ridden by a National "virgin", Leighton Aspell. Amberleigh House, who had given his all, finished third. Yet McCain could be excused the contented look of a man who had defied the cynics again.

He had regarded the price of 50-1 he had been offered a few weeks ago, and accepted, on his horse to secure steeplechasing's greatest handicap prize with contempt, not appreciation. Afterwards McCain was a picture of understandable self-righteousness.

"The little horse has run his heart out – if he'd had a proper trainer he would have won," he reflected in that self-deprecating manner of his, with an allusion to his reputation among some as a one-horse trainer. "There's no place I'd rather be than Aintree and this brought back a lot of memories." He was asked if he had been overcome by visions of victory in the race which will always be synonymous with the McCain name. "In my mind I did see the winner's enclosure again," he agreed.

Amberleigh House had relished the underfoot conditions, and there could be few complaints from anyone in that regard. There were no stamina-sapping clods to plough through, and it was described as "beautiful" going. Hence there was a widespread expectation that class would out. Even the riders of the doughty weight-carriers in the 11-stone plus bracket, a burden which usually proves too extreme (it is 21 years since a horse carrying Chives' 11st 5lb or more has won) could approach the race with rare confidence.

Yet so many of the supposed major participants in this marathon tumbled, while others were pulled up, several before they had even enjoyed the opportunity to impose themselves. For their supporters, it was a veritable massacre by the bookmakers.

Not for those of the Irish-trained and ridden Monty's Pass, who, had he been able to appreciate the weight of betting behind him, would probably have crumpled under the sheer pressure of it. But as the aspirations of most of those around him fell to earth Geraghty, the leading jockey at Cheltenham Festival, was riding a beautiful race, biding his time, shadowing Andrew Balding's Gunner Welburn, producing economical leaps from the 10-year-old, and refusing to allow the horse to commit himself too early. When the pair eventually assumed command, it culminated in one of the most facile National triumphs one can recall.

What can one say about Geraghty, whose ascendancy in six years from virtual unknown to the jockey who harvests principal races at will has been extraordinary? This was a fourth National outing for the rider raised in Drumree in Co Meath. After failing to finish on two of the three previous occasions, he might have been entitled to believe that his fate in the race was adopting a rather similar trend to that of Tony McCoy, who was again devoid of fortune in the one significant race that eludes him, the seven-year-old Iris Bleu being pulled up.

Geraghty's joy, and that of the horse's owner (who was named in some of the racecourse blurb erroneously, but rather appropriately, as Mike Flutter), was unrestrained. But while they departed to celebrate in suitable style, there will have been an emotional journey home for the McCain family.

Maybe they were not accompanied by a winner in their horsebox this time, but nobody could deny Ginger his moment to remind his detractors that he is still very much around, on a day when history came uncannily close to repeating itself.