'People get a kick out of seeing the colours' - iconic Red Rum silks back in the Carlisle winner's enclosure once again

Wintry conditions and a warning from the police over travelling to Cumbria led to a spate of non-runners and a reduced crowd, but those who braved the elements were treated to the iconic silks of Red Rum in the Carlisle winner's enclosure once again.

More than half of the 45 horses due to run on the six-race card were declared non-runners with travel issues cited as the reason for 15 of the absentees.

That meant three of the contests were match races, including the 2m1f maiden hurdle won by the Donald McCain-trained Ivegotdapower under Brian Hughes, who was sporting the burgundy and yellow colours of owners Red Rum Racing, made famous by the three-time Grand National hero.

Red Rum is not only a popular figure at Aintree but Carlisle too, having prepared for each of his Grand National victories in 1973, 1974 and 1977 by scoring at the track's first autumn meeting of the season.

"Red Rum always used to start his season off here and people get a kick out of seeing the colours – and so do we," McCain, whose father Ginger trained the legendary chaser, told Racing TV.

"It's a syndicate now and they're great owners who have been with me a long time and they've got shares in them and so on. There's still a couple more shares available so hopefully we can keep them going."

McCain was denied a double as his Jipekaa Machin was beaten by odds-on favourite Russian Virtue, his sole rival, in the 2m1f conditional jockeys' handicap hurdle, while the other match race went the way of Irish raider Sea God, who scored by 15 lengths in the closing bumper for John McConnell.

Read these next:

Expert jury: is Impaire Et Passe still the main Champion Hurdle threat to Constitution Hill? 

Teahupoo lands back-to-back Hatton's Grace Hurdles to end Impaire Et Passe's unbeaten record 

Racing Post Members' Club: 50% off your first three months 

Do you want £400+ of free bets? Racing Post have got the best offers, all in one place. Visit racingpost.com/freebets to find out more.