Will Aintree see the quality of Mercy again?

"He went the long way," Biddlecombe wrote, jokingly referring to a public rebuke often repeated over the past 35 years by the trenchant critic that has always lived rather comfortably with Mercy.

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Biddlecombe has never really been forgiven for coming second on Gay Trip at Aintree in 1972.

"He should have won," Mercy still insists. "Gay Trip was the best of our National winners. He won in 1970 and was second two years later carrying top weight, giving the thing that beat him, Well To Do, 21 pounds. He should have won again. He went five miles instead of four-and-a-half."

Hence the quip by Biddlecombe who, it has to be said, collected plenty of big prizes for legendary trainer Fred Rimell, Mercy's late husband, as the stable jockey.

"Never a National, though," Mercy adds, as if to stress that at 87 she can still banter with the best.

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Fred Rimell enjoyed four National triumphs through ESB (1956), Nicolaus Silver (1961), Gay Trip (1970) and Rag Trade (1976). His father, Tom, had trained Forbra to ultimate steeplechase glory in 1932.

Mercy, who rode out every day and made all the race entries in the great days of the Kinnersley yard near Worcester, is now attempting to secure a remarkable sixth Grand National victory for the family name.

It is a name as synonymous with the National as McCain, a name that harks back to a bygone age.

Seated in her study, the Racing Post spread across her desk, interviewer positioned almost behind her right ear to negate a deafness in the other ear, she is surrounded by the most extraordinary pictorial history of a love affair with one man and, to an extent, one race.

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She rode for England at Le Touquet when just 10 years old, won her first point-to-point at 14, and at 17 married Fred, a champion jockey who, after breaking his neck twice, went on to become a champion trainer.

"I met him at a Sunday afternoon tennis party," she recalls. "No television. You would play tennis and then have tea. Tea has rather gone out of fashion nowadays. We were married for 44 years. I still miss him, every single day."

Although Rimell lifted two Gold Cups and had 200 winners at Cheltenham, it is with the National and Aintree that he became most closely linked, starting with the race in which no one remembers the winner.

"ESB won Devon Loch's race, of course, when the Queen Mother's horse collapsed," said Mercy. "Fred's theory, and mine, related to those marathon runners you see who stagger into the arena suffering from an oxygen deficiency and don't know where they are going.

"Dick Francis, Devon Loch's jockey, was devastated. I now stay with his niece when visiting Ireland but have to confess I have not read one of his racing books.

"Of our four National successes, Nicolaus Silver was the most enjoyable. He was a lovely grey horse. Rag Trade was quite a good horse. He won the Welsh National as well. As for his owner, Mr Teasy-Weasy, the hairdresser, well, he was awful. One just did not care for him."

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Mercy remains entertainingly sharp and alert and, despite a rather stern exterior and matching reputation, she exudes a sort of blunt charm.

She has clearly not suffered a fool, gladly or otherwise, in her four score and seven years.

She is a posh Jenny Pitman, who once said that she preferred horses to people. "She was right," Mercy says. "I enjoy the horses. I love looking at them in the paddock. And all these racing channels on television are terrific. If you are interested and you have been at it for as long as I have, you have great fun criticising everybody. I am always getting into trouble."

Mercy remains more active than a supporting stick suggests. She still drives and visits her nearby farm at 8am. Every week she goes to see Simon at Kinnersley, where John Spearing now trains.

"I never see him work. I know what a nuisance owners can be. I go and see him in his box, and I have him stripped and taken out into the yard and inspected.

"I love him and I'm very proud of him. I first saw him two days after he was born. I actually sent him to Doncaster Sales but he did not fetch the reserve of £15,000. Someone offered me £10,000 later that day but I decided to keep him.

"We were not going to run him this year but next year, if I live to that age, he would have a lot more weight to carry. Victory is a possibility. He stays and he jumps and Andrew Thornton knows him well."

Woe betide Thornton, though, if the horse goes a yard beyond four-and-a-half miles.

FRED RIMELL'S FAB FOUR TRIUMPHS

ESB: Won the race as Devon Loch, having pulled away from the last leading by five lengths, flopped on to his belly within sight of the finishing line.

NICOLAUS SILVER: The last grey to win the National. He could only act on top of the ground, and didn't like the soft at all. He was ridden in much of his work by Mercy Rimell.

GAY TRIP: Never won a three-mile chase, but could win at shorter and further distances. He was ridden by Pat Taaffe (of Arkle fame) as stable jockey Terry Biddlecombe was injured.

RAG TRADE: John Francome had finished 11th on the horse the previous year but hated him and said he would never ride him again. Stable jockey John Burke managed to outrun Aintree legend Red Rum from the final fence.