A NORTH-EAST veteran of the Grand National relived his memories of one of the world's best horse races when he met the Princess Royal.
Pat McCarron, of Barton, near Darlington, joined Princess Anne at Aintree to help celebrate the 40th anniversary of the Injured Jockeys Fund.
The Princess, who is patron of the fund, spoke to 14 former jockeys, who competed over the past four decades.
Mr McCarron, 66, rode in five Grand Nationals, twice finishing second. His career spanned 19 years, from 1953 to 1972, during which he rode more than 500 winners.
The fund was started in 1964 in the wake of falls suffered by two leading jump-jockeys of the era -Paddy Farrell in that year's Grand National and Tim Brookshaw at an Aintree meeting four months earlier.
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