HOOVES will thunder across the Aintree turf in this Saturday's Grand National. Evening Press sportswriter PETER MARTINI picks out five highlights from the rich folklore of the 'people's race'.

It is impossible to discuss the National without mentioning Red Rum.

The great horse had been bred to be a sprinter but found his true ability in long distance jumping and, in particular, at the National at Aintree.

He first won the four-and-a-half-mile race in 1973 as 9-1 favourite, when he chased down top-weighted Crisp, who had led by 15 lengths at the last fence, to record a time of nine minutes 1.9 seconds.

He followed up a year later, despite carrying top weight, but in the next two years he won just twice in 18 chases, gallantly failing in the 1975 and 1976 Nationals.

He appeared on the wane but showed signs of sparkle in the build-up to the 1977 National, surprising trainer Ginger McCain in the process.

With hope renewed, he tackled his fifth National, ridden by Tommy Stack. He led eight out and, when challenged by Churchtown Boy, out-jumped the pretender and - roared on by a deafening crowd - completed the fairytale hat-trick.

Such was the magnitude of the achievement, controversy reigned when Red Rum did not become the first non-human to win the BBC Sports Personality of the Year - even though the victor, Virginia Wade, had won Wimbledon in the Silver Jubilee Year.

When Red Rum died in 1995, he was buried beside the winning post at Aintree.

The next memorable moment was momentous for the wrong reasons. The 1993 event become the "race that never was" after it was reduced it to a shambles by a series of cock-ups at the start.

Most of the 39 riders did not know a second false start had been called and, while 11 riders pulled up after the first lap, seven finished the gruelling course. The Jockey Club declared the race void and bookies had to repay £75 million in bets.

The "winner that never was" was Esha Ness, a 50-1 outsider trained by Jenny Pitman and ridden by John White. Pitman, who had become the first woman to train a National winner in 1983 with Corbiere, was devastated.

The only other time the race has failed to run since it began in 1839 was during the Second World War, although it was postponed in 1997 after a suspected IRA bomb warning.

Foinavon has featured in this column before, in a High Fives of sporting shocks, and there was no way he could be left out today.

The 100-1 shot provided the biggest shock in National history thanks to a crazy pile-up at the smallest fence.

As the runners approached the jump, riderless horse Popham Down shied from the fence and veered across the track in front of all the horses, bringing virtually the entire field either down or to a standstill.

But Foinavon was so far off the pace that he avoided the crash and was steered by jockey John Buckingham away from the pile-up, over the fence and on his way to victory.

The fence was named in Foinavon's honour.

From a shock winner to a shock loser. While few people will remember that ESB won the 1956 race, many will recall Devon Loch ran in it.

Devon Loch had the race in the bag when he inexplicably gave a half-leap 50 yards from the line, unseating jockey Dick Francis.

The most moving moment, however, provides my most memorable National moment.

In late 1979, 31-year-old jockey Bob Champion was diagnosed with cancer and told he had only a few months to live. But, driven on by the dream of winning the National, he defied the disease and the odds, and in 1981 was in the saddle on Aldaniti, 25 years ago today.

The horse itself had come back three times from a leg injury which, to lesser equines, would have forced early retirement.

With barely a dry eye among the Aintree throng, the partnership held on to win the great race, completing an inspirational story which was turned into a 1983 film called Champions, starring John Hurt.

Aldaniti died aged 27 in 1997, while Champion made a full recovery and went on to raise £3 million for cancer research.