IT was not hard to determine the sense of fatherly pride in Ginger McCain, even if much of what he said in interviews was unprintable.

McCain is synonymous with the Grand National because of his exploits with the heroic Red Rum in the 1970s and on Saturday his son Donald joined him as a fellow winning trainer thanks to Ballabriggs, providing another treasured moment for the north-west racing community.

“It was very very satisfying,” said the 80-year-old as the media gathered yesterday for the horse’s homecoming.

“I always thought I’d like to see him win a National, I never dreamed of seeing it, but he’s a very good trainer.

“It’s just about getting the right horse. When I trained in Southport, it was all about two things, the National and the Waterloo Cup (a famous coursing event).

“You tend to measure things off the old horse (Red Rum), but he never saw a hurdle never mind a fence between his races, even when he came in pre-season, he never jumped a twig. A proper pro.

“You never think about getting a National horse but they just creep along.’’ The race was a far more vicious spectacle in those days, when the fences were bigger, but the issue of equine safety reared its head again in this year’s race when two horses died and several fences were bypassed because of accidents.

Others that finished, including Ballabriggs and the previous winner Don’t Push It, had to be tended to because of exhaustion in the heat.

McCain, who also won the National in 2004 with Amberleigh House, is famous for political incorrectness and while sympathetic to connections, he holds his own predictably forthright views.

He said: “Fences are there to be jumped, that’s the name of the game and Becher’s Brook is a major feature in the race.

“I couldn’t believe it when I saw them going round it.

“Of course it’s sad, but it’s speed that kills. The way they have changed it, getting rid of the drops, the horses are not measuring their fences.

‘‘It was good to see the jockeys jump off the horses so quickly.

They knew they were drunk – not the usual drunk but it was the temperature.’’ McCain said his health has been ‘‘in and out’’ but made it to Liverpool to lay a wreath on the grave of Red Rum.

A couple of weeks earlier he had paid a wistful visit to his now dilapidated former yard in Southport, packed in behind a car showroom and from where he would take Red Rum to the beach to exercise.

“It was first time for a few years, and it had become a bit shabby,” he recalled. ‘‘However small it was when I was there, it was well-kept.

‘‘But that’s how it is. It served its purposes.”

McCain has long since upped sticks to rural Cheshire and Ballabriggs’ party was a more sedate affair than those of years gone by.

“It’s the third Grand National winner to come off this estate, that’s rather nice. A decent trainer would have had four!” he said.

“I was really impressed with the way the horse did it. They didn’t hang around and in the back of my mind I thought he might empty out, but he didn’t.”