This Saturday at 3.35pm, a total of 31 horses are set to line up for the Scottish Grand National at Ayr racecourse in the hopes of etching their name in the history books.
This is the biggest race in the Scottish calendar and comes just one week after the legendary Lucinda Russell trained Corach Rambler to victory in the Aintree Grand National. Now, she has the chance to do it again on her home turf here.
Below, we’ll take a look at some of the likely winners of Scotland’s biggest national hunt race and try and pick some big each way bets for you. Read on for more.
Strong favourite
Despite the competitiveness of a big race like the Scottish Grand National, we actually have a pretty short-priced favourite heading the market in Kitty’s Light. The Christian Williams-trained seven year old was already strongly fancied, before winning the Eider in Newcastle in February. Since that impressive win, his price has shortened as many fancy the Welsh raider to win this one.
It won’t be easy going by any stretch of the imagination though and, surprisingly for a National, there are a few horses that have been victorious over this distance in the past. One of those is Your Own Story, trained by the aforementioned Lucinda Russell, who has also had a few spins around Ayr in his career. He could be one to watch.
Plenty of challengers
As you’d expect, there’s plenty who fancy their chances in this race. Another one to keep tabs on here is the appropriately named Flower of Scotland, who won a four mile handicap chase at Kelso in December and has run decent enough in two races since. This looks to have been the target all along and if she strips fitter for those practice runs, she will be a real contender.
Nicky Henderson has never trained a National winner before and it’s interesting that he brings Dusart to this race. His latest run in the Cotswold Chase doesn’t inspire much confidence, however this significant step up in trip could unlock something in the eight year old.
Bigger prices
As always with a National, it’s best to look at the bigger priced runners in the hopes of landing an each way scoop. We start with Manofthepeople, trained by Fergal O’Brien. He was a beaten favourite at Newbury last time out, but that was just a fitness buffer in preparation for this run. His back to back wins at Chepstow before that suggest he has something about him.
Magna Sam is a good stayer and could have a say in this, along with the 2021 winner of this race Mighty Thunder. Dan Skelton has a few darts in hand here also and of those, it’s Sail Away who stands out at a decent price for the English trainer. It looks set to be another fantastic renewal.
Suggested bets
- Your Own Story e/w
- Flower of Scotland e/w
- Manothepeople e/w
- Sail Away e/w
