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Jack Houghton picks five of the best from National's past

In Channel 4's documentary, 100 Greatest British Sporting Moments, Red Rum's third Grand National win in 1977 was ranked 24th, making it the highest horseracing entry.

That Red Rum should feature in this multi-sport list is no surprise; he's still one of only two horses any of my non-racing friends (yes, I do have some) can name. The other is Shergar.

But in my eyes, 1977 wasn't even Red Rum's greatest Grand National moment, and I reckon the race itself can do far better. In no particular order, here are some of my favourites. Please feel free to share yours below.

Moifaa wins in 1904

I was gutted to find out last night that feminists never burned their bras. Apparently, a journalist, Lindsay Van Gelder, reported demonstrators at the 1968 Miss America beauty contest in Atlantic City planning to burn their bras, but an editor at the New York Post decided the headline should include the phrase: "bra-burners." Papers across the world picked up the story and the myth was, incorrectly, perpetuated.

It was with a similar sadness that I read about the debunking of two Moifaa myths. You see, every Grand National day my parents would regale me with the history of the great race, and centre stage was a horse called Moifaa, who, in 1904, set-off from Auckland by sea. Next stop, Aintree. On route, his ship sank, and Moifaa swam 20 miles to an island from where he was recovered. The horse still made the trip, won the Grand National that year, and in so doing became Edward VII's favourite horse, eventually leading the monarch's funeral procession under a symbolic empty saddle.

That's the story at least. Unfortunately, it turns out to be bollocks. A few years ago Brough Scott of the Racing Post went out to New Zealand to research a book on Moifaa. A summary of what he discovered can be found here and here.

Red Rum wins his first in 1973

Talking of perpetuated myths, a favourite that usually gets an outing or two around this time of year is that what you really need to win the Grand National is a good two-miler. Their speed, in the most endurance sapping event of the calendar, is, apparently, a superb asset. Often, proponents of this view will say: "Look at Crisp, he was a two-miler." However, to my mind, that argument is about as strong as saying: "All men with moustaches are evil? Don't be ridiculous, look at Hitler."

Crisp was indeed a two-miler, having won the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham two years earlier, and no piece of footage better illustrates the staying requirements of the big race than the 1973 renewal. In case you've never seen it, I'll say no more. Just enjoy it here, pure drama.

Trainers seem to be getting wise to the stamina requirements of the race now, but there are still a few entries this year - like Hi Cloy, Risk Accessor and King Johns Castle - whose best form is over shorter trips, and so stand little chance of performing well come Aintree. Son of Red Rum's trainer, Donald McCain, should have no stamina worries for his race favourite, Cloudy Lane.

Clan Royal gets carried out in 2005

It seems strange to include ill-fortune among a list of celebrated moments, and I do so not out of gleeful enjoyment, but because no incident better illustrates the chaos inherent in the Grand National's character. Yes, changes to the course and to the way the handicap is constructed has meant that better horses are now able to run, and have a more realistic chance in the race than before. But no matter how humans have altered the contest over the years, bedlam and pandemonium are never far away, and predicable the contest is not.

And here we have the greatest jump jockey of all time, in an uncontested lead, on a horse whose breast girth had broken and saddle had slipped, still confident of victory (he was trading at [3.0] in-running at the time) carried out by a tag team of loose horses before Becher's. That the strongest force in racing could not bend the big race to his will says something to me, and McCoy will have to see if his likely mount this year, Butler's Cabin, can break his Grand National hoodoo.

I almost included the Grand National that never was in this list for the same reasons, but Clan Royal got the nod. However, if you want to be reminded of the most farcical moment in British sport (you've got to love the guy wearing the trilby and waving his little red flag) then click here.

Aldaniti wins in 1981

Anyone who doesn't know the Bob Champion-Aldaniti story should rush out and buy the film, Champions. Telling the story of how a jockey recovers from testicular cancer to partner a horse - itself recently recovered from a life-threatening injury - to win the 1981 Grand National, the script would have been rejected as far fetched if it wasn't true. And although sentimentality plays its part in the movie, it's a surprisingly gritty and realistic portrayal of what happened.

The actual race can be seen here, with an inspired commentary from Sir Peter O'Sullevan.

Golden Miller wins in 1934

It's difficult to conceive a horse that could win five consecutive Gold Cups and pick up a Grand National mid-way through for good measure. With such historical distance, it's easy to assume that the tests these races presented were somehow different back then, and that the competitive nature of them these days would preclude any horse, even one of the undoubted talent of Golden Miller, from repeating the feat.

It's not as if any Gold Cup winners even try these days. Master Oats was the last, and he didn't attempt it until two years after his Cheltenham win. So it's fascinating to hear of plans for Denman to be entered in 2009. There's a lot that needs to happen for him to get there, but the prospect of a Grand National run with all-but-one horse out of the handicap is mouth-watering.

A Pathe news-reel of Golden Miller's win can be seen here.