Charlotte Brew

Charlotte Brew, born on 14 June, 1955, was the first lady to ride in the Grand National (Barony Fort, 1977).

Based at Coggeshall, Essex, she came 4th in the Liverpool Foxhunters on the same horse, thus qualifying her for Aintree.

She gave her account of the race as follows:

'My parents gave me a horse called Barony Fort for my 18th birthday. They were hunters and loved point-to-point meetings, so the drift into racing was inevitable. My second race was on Barony in the Foxhunters' Chase at Aintree in 1976. He was a safe jumper and we plodded around to finish fourth, which qualified us for the National. What a start!

I was just out of boarding school and was very naïve about what to expect. A procession of reporters and photographers came to our Essex home in the build-up to the race and got me doing and saying all manner of ridiculous things. Everyone in my village was behind me and it was wonderful. The grocer closed on race day for the first time in 30 years. Trainers Bruce Hobbs, who won the 1938 National on Battleship, Fred Winter and Ryan Price also sent me lovely telegrams, wishing me well. I felt like a real celebrity. Some observers were rather more chauvinistic about my chances and my dear old mum ended up censoring any bad press by hiding it under the sofa. I only discovered the cuttings years later when I was cleaning out her bedroom.

On Grand National day I had my own little changing room, but wasn't there long as I trained Barony myself and had to prepare him. Of course, I was nervous before the race, but I was much younger then and took these things in my stride. I wasn't frightened by the fences; in fact, I couldn't wait to jump them.

The race itself was a blur. Things went to plan and Barony was able to follow other horses at his own rather slow pace. Four fences from home we were still going but getting tired. When the horse that we were tracking pulled up, old Barony decided that was enough for him, too. I was bitterly disappointed not to finish and didn't even see that Red Rum had won until much later.

The whole experience led to some fabulous things. I was a guest on the BBC Sports Personality of the Year show and the Daily Mirror flew me out for a day trip to Washington on Concorde. I was sat next to the world champion boxer John Conteh. He was very anxious because his wife was expecting a baby and was already a day overdue. In Washington, the mayor threw a champagne reception and we had a tour of the city.

I went back to Aintree in 1982 to try again, this time on a horse called Martinstown, who unseated me.

I now cater for weddings and train point-to-point horses from my farm in Somerset. It's funny because I was always hopeless at cooking, but my mother got fed up with me loitering around the house so made me learn. As the catering is mainly summer work I get to spend the winter messing about and worrying about my horses and three children.'