'Some people in racing were pretty nasty - my mum hid the worst of it from me'

Mention the 1977 Grand National and all minds jump to one horse. Red Rum galloped his way into racing folklore with a monumental third success under top weight at the age of 12. He demolished his rivals by 25 lengths and rightly received a hero's welcome into the winner's enclosure.

Yet further down the field and away from the attention of the crowd, more history was being written. A horse named Barony Fort was quietly making his way back to the stables after pulling up at Valentine's. On his back, a 21-year-old named Charlotte Brew had just become the first woman ever to ride in the Grand National.

It was not the glorious ending to the race that Brew, now Charlotte Budd, had envisioned. She tried in vain three times to get over the fence but her self-trained charge had nothing left to give. To be the first female jockey in the National should be achievement enough but those final few fences taunt Budd still. "I've almost forgiven myself," she says.