In the late 1970s Doncaster had no jumps meetings between the end of the flat and January. A new fixture was created on Friday and Saturday 18-19 December 1980. Races that weren’t sponsored were named after horses with a Yorkshire connection. One of them was the Red Alligator Handicap Chase, which was run at that pre-Christmas meeting until 1991.
Red Alligator is best known for his facile 1968 Grand National win, but his meritorious run a year before has been forgotten. He was impeded in the Foinavon debacle and finished third after being remounted and aimed at the fence three times before getting over it. It’s arguable that he was unlucky not to be a dual winner.
In 1969 he ran poorly, falling at the 19th fence. A suggestion that he was doped before the race could not be proven. He recovered to win three more races in the following season.
Why Doncaster named a race after him is a puzzle, for he never won there. His exploits reflected great credit on County Durham, for the horse was trained by Denys Smith at Bishop Auckland, having been bought by local butcher John Manners for 340 guineas and ridden during the main part of his career by Brian Fletcher, all men of Durham. A pub near Smith’s yard was renamed the Red Alligator, and is still going strong. Fletcher went on to partner Red Rum to his first two Grand National wins.
Red Alligator was by Magic Red (Red Rum’s sire) out of Miss Alligator. There really is such an animal as a red alligator. One can buy leather goods made from their skins.