25 JANUARY 1997, Page 21

National champion

MY racing correspondent, Captain Thread- needle, writes: Neville Crump, who has taken his last fence, was the first and only Balliol man to have trained a Grand National winner — three of them, in fact. This distinction was rather lost on Sir Edward Heath when the two of them met at a college reunion. Opening the conversa- tion cautiously, Sir Edward asked: 'And who was your tutor?' Good God,' said the great man, 'I don't know. I can't even remember the names of my owners.'