As part of our Foxhunter Heroes feature, we turn our attentions to 1990 and the success of Co. Down amateur rider Raymond Martin aboard Call Collect.
Twelve months earlier, the pair had finished third to Three Counties in the Christies Foxhunters at the Cheltenham Festival before excelling over the National fences in the Aintree Foxhunters a month later when winning by 20 lengths.
Flash forward 12 months and Martin and Call Collect, who had been 33/1 outsiders for the 1989 Christies Foxhunters, were the centre of attentions, as having recorded back-to-back successes in Hunter Chases at Kelso and Ayr, they were sent off as the 7/4 favourites for the 1990 renewal.
Despite making mistakes throughout the contest, Martin positioned the John Parkes-trained nine-year-old towards the rear of the 15-strong field before beginning to move closer from the 17th fence.
By the line, the pair held off Old Nick by two lengths, with the 1986 National hero and Aintree regular West Tip back in third.
Having won the Aintree Foxhunters in 1989, Call Collect and Raymond Martin joined West Tip by going for the main event 1990, lining up for that year’s Aintree Grand National.
Sent off as a 14/1 shot for the four and a half mile feature, the 1990 race is remembered to this day for the Firm ground that it was run on which saw Mr Frisk set a course record when he completed the course in eight minutes 47.8 seconds, a record which still stands despite the race distance having been shortened slightly.
The strong pace of the race saw him struggle to make as much headway as he had managed at the Cheltenham Festival, but he stayed on well to complete in seventh, the positions in front of his Cheltenham rival West Tip.
His visits to competitive action would be infrequent thereafter, and Call Collect, who had previously won two Irish opens at Dromore and Lennymore under Martin, finished his career when pulling up at the age of 14 in a Loughbrickland open in April 1995.
Meanwhile, Raymond Martin has remained involved with racing and continues to act as a raceday steward.
