Scottish Grand National weekend preview

It feels slightly strange to be talking about the Scottish National so early in April. Usually, Ayr’s biggest National Hunt fixture of the season comes after the Grand National at Aintree, however due to Easter arriving slightly more earlier this year, we kick off the final month of the jumps season in Scotland.

Coral Scottish Champion Hurdle 2:25

This years renewal of the Scottish Champion Hurdle looks a slightly more competitive one compared to last year.

West Cork who currently tops the market was far from disgraced when finishing fourth in the County Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in behind the handicap plot State Man. The handicapper has raised West Cork by a pound for that effort. Dan Skelton’s hope will carry eleven stone two in this contest and the form from two previous efforts in both the Greatwood at Cheltenham and the Betfair Exchange Trophy at Ascot earlier on in the season haven’t worked out too badly.

Last years winner and top weight Milkwood has only been seen on just the one occasion so far this season. Last years Galway Hurdle runner up was sent over fences at Uttoxeter in October when finishing fourth in behind the useful pair of Favoir and Annual Invictus. A return to defend his crown here might well have been the long term plan and you could easily argue that Neil Mulholland’s eight year old is a far better hurdler then he is chaser. Milkwood put up some solid efforts in the County Hurdle, Welsh Champion Hurdle and the already mentioned Galway Hurdle last season and looks to be the main danger here.

I’m sticking with Onemorefortheroad to plunder a good prize that he’s been teasing to do in his last couple of starts.

The soft ground in the Imperial Cup at Sandown last time out was no help at all yet, despite the ground hinderances, Neil King’s talented seven year old went on to finish a valiant fourth racing handily throughout. Jack Quinlan retains the ride once again. I’ve always felt that Jack is one of the more underrated riders in the weighing room and I’m always left surprised as to why Jack is not a permanent fixture at these big Saturday meetings.

The sounder ground will be a huge plus here and I don’t feel that Onemorefortheroad has reached his ceiling in terms of ability. He definitely looks like one on the continuous upgrade and I’m confident of another bold bid here in receipt of a stone from Milkwood.

Jordan Electrics Future Champion Novices Chase 1:50

We have a tightly competitive Grade Two Novice Chase coming up before the Scottish National. I fancy Do Your Job to take his tally to two victories around Ayr.

Talented conditional Luca Morgan gave Michael Scudamore’s eight year old a strong ride at Newcastle last time out when winning by half a length. The step up to two and a half miles seemed to suit. Current market leader Minella Drama has to give Do Your Job a penalty and meets his other rivals barring Ultima pulled up Kiltealy Briggs on level weights.

Do Your Job has completed in every start over fences apart from coming to grief at the eighth in the King Henry VIII Novices‘ Chase at Sandown before Christmas. A smart novice hurdler last season when chasing home the likes of Metier and My Drogo as well as finishing second in the Top Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree, Do Your Job brings plenty of classy form. The ground will be no issue here and I am very confident of another success over fences.

Coral Scottish Grand National 3:35

The feature race of the day comes up at 3:35 and this years renewal of the Scottish National is, once again highly competitive but I do question how strong this years race is compared to those of the past.

Christian Williams saddles the top two in the market in the form of Kitty’s Light and the very impressive recent Eider Chase winner Win My Wings. Kitty’s Light comes into this off the back of a busy season. A runner up in the Charlie Hall back in October has since been followed up with some quiet efforts at Kempton and Newbury in the Ladbroke Trophy before bouncing back to recognisable form when chasing home fellow stablemate Cap Du Nord in the Coral Trophy Handicap Chase at Kempton back in February.

The Grand National has been earmarked as the long term target for this six year old who seems as though he’s been around forever despite the infancy in his jumping age. Jack Tudor is back aboard and Kitty’s Light will surely appreciate the longer, marathon trip this time around.

I’m siding with the Ogmore By Sea team for my pick with the talented mare Win My Wings. As written in my piece on Eider Chase weekend a few weeks ago, I had every faith that Win My Wings would be strongly suited to the stamina sapping four miles and she absolutely bolted up, turning a competitive field into a procession. Ryan Mania got Win My Wings into a beautiful rhythm and she jumped superbly which will be needed once again around Ayr. This seasons Classic Chase winner and possible Grand National hope Eclair Surf was a length and three quarter second.

The well fancied History Of Fashion was an early unseat at the sixth but is strongly fancied again to run a big race this time around.

Amateur jockey Rob James comes in for the big race ride and takes off a handy seven pounds in the process. Rob is attached to the Gordon Elliott stable and was seen riding the likes of two time Pertemps Final winner Sire Du Berlais at the Cheltenham Festival. If Win My Wings is in the same form as she was when hacking up in the Eider then she could be very hard to beat.

Ultima seventh Fantastikas is declared here but I’m not sure that the good ground will be to his liking. The ground at Ayr is currently good to soft at the time of writing this but all will depend on how quick the ground is riding before we get round to the big one.

Cool Mix and One More Fleurie are two who I think can offer some each way value in the field. Cool Mix sneaks into this at the bottom of the weights carrying ten stone four with conditional Alan Doyle taking an extra seven pounds off. Iain Jardine’s ten year old has been consistent in good company over fences this season and his fourth in the Rehearsal Chase in the snow on Fighting Fifth Hurdle day looks strong. Both Dingo Dollar and Good Boy Bobby are Aintree bound next weekend, the latter winning the Rowland Meyrick on Boxing Day in the process and the winner Aye Right was ultimately outclassed when highly tried in the Gold Cup at the Cheltenham Festival. The step up in trip should suit and Cool Mix is one to note at around the 12-1 mark.

One More Fleurie is a massive price and it’s a very fair reflection of his efforts this season. The Ian Williams trained eight year old bounded clear on this card twelve months ago when taking the Champion Novices Handicap Chase in superb front running style rattling off a sequence of four wins from five starts since the end of February 2021.

Unfortunately, he hasn’t been able to build on the promise shown last season and a string of disappointing efforts have followed. The return to Ayr could be the spark that One More Fleurie needs in order to see him being competitive in this. If Charlie Todd can bounce him out handy and into a good rhythm then One More Fleurie could definitely outrun his massive odds.

Newbury

Moving down to a competitive supporting card at Newbury and I like the look of the ultra consistent Doukarov in the 3:20. I was at Newbury two starts ago when Jack Wildman gave the Sean Curran trained seven year old a good ride on the front end before being run down by The Russian Doyen at the last finishing a four and a quarter length second. Doukarov followed that effort up with a comfortable six and a half length success at Sandown at the start of March.

Jack Wildman retains the ride and seems to get a good tune out of Doukarov with Sean Curran keen to supply Wildman with plenty of recent opportunities. If the pair can get jumping and travelling on the front end like they did two starts ago, then they might not be caught on this occasion.

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