The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 3 letter word RED RUM
I've seen this crossword clue in The Guardian
R
E
D
R
U
M
More clues leading to the result RED RUM
- About to beat an old racehorse
- National hero? Flipping hell!
- Popular old horse getting beat again?
- Retiring head of state gets tattoo showing a real 1 29
- Sporting legend about to get beat
- After mounting, take out famous horse
- Running backwards, easily beat old racehorse
- Foul play over Aintree champion?
- Horse on Scottish hill
- Triple winner revealed in murder review
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "National hero" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case national hero = red rum.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.