Greats of horse racing paid touching tributes to four-time Grand National winning trainer Ginger McCain at a memorial service at Liverpool Cathedral.
Car dealer McCain made his name with the legendary Red Rum, the one time "no hope" horse he trained in stables behind his showrooms in Ainsdale, Southport.
Under Ginger's eye "Rummy" won the world's greatest steeplechase three times in the 1970s and helped transform the horseman's fate.
He put car sales behind him and set-up a successful stable at Cholmondely in Cheshire where he went on to win the National for a fourth time with Amberleigh House in 2004.
His son Donald McCain followed in his father's footsteps and also trained the 2011 Aintree winner Ballabriggs.
Charles Barnett, chief executive of Ascot who was head of Aintree for many years, gave one of the readings at the service.
Jockey Mick Fitzgerald, said: "There's very few pictures of Ginger where he hasn't got a smile.
"The nickname 'Mr Aintree' is exactly right, he loved the race, he loved Aintree racecourse and he just loved what the Grand National brought to everybody.
"He was very proud of the fact that he won the race four times.
"I shall never forget him when his son Donald won the race last year with Ballabriggs. He was walking round and said to everybody 'he didn't do too badly did he, my boy?'
"He was very much a family man and I think he was very proud of what his family and he himself had achieved.
"From being a used car salesman he trained one of the highest profile racehorse of my time in Red Rum.
"For anybody who didn't know much about racing and you asked them to name one racehorse, it would nearly always be Red Rum.
"He was a showman, he was a man who loved the camera, and who loved being interviewed."
Merseybeat pop singer Gerry Marsden told of how Ginger had helped him with charity fund-raising events.
Said Gerry: "He was very direct but a lovely man. With Ginger what you saw was what you got. There was no side to him all.
"He really was a legend in his own lifetime. Ginger McCain may be gone, but he will never, never be forgotten."
Speaking during the memorial ceremony, friend and former employee, Jonathan Turner, spoke movingly of McCain's first forays into racing.
He told how McCain had been mesmerised by horses on a childhood visit to Aintree.
Jonathan said: "His love of horses came from the days you would find working horses around the town.
"In 1940 he went to the Grand National for the first time with his uncle.
"He got as close to the gate as possible to watch the race. This is where the flame for horse racing was lit."
Added Jonathan: "Ginger was a kind man with a quick wit.
"He would always say what was on his mind but he was never malicious. He treated everyone the same, whether he was talking to a fan or the Queen.
"The press always had a perception about him being a one horse trainer.
"He would always respond to this saying, 'but didn’t I make a good job of it'."
Another trainer Richard Pitman paid homage in a poem and a video package specially produced by the BBC for the ceremony..
BBC sports presenter Clare Balding also paid tribute through video, she said: "Ginger was a great man.
"He’d hate me if I lied and said he was a polite, non-offensive gentleman; he wasn’t.
"He was a kind man, always said what was on his mind and had a real charm about him."
Balding said that McCain was responsible for changing the Grand National's place in history, saying he and Red Rum brought "magic" back to the race.
She added: "In the 1970s the Grand National was really struggling. Ginger changed that. Red Rum brough magic back to the race.
"There has never been or a horse bigger than Red Rum and he and Ginger really went together as a double act.
"I think the crown moment of Ginger’s life must have been living to see his son win the Grand National in 2004 with Amberleigh House."
Post a comment