A total of 47 horses have stood their ground for Saturday’s feature event, the Coral Scottish Grand National, including the first and second home in last month’s National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, Chicago Grey and Beshabar both horse racing tips of the day for saturday, writes Elliot Slater.
The four-mile-one-furlong marathon event staged at Ayr racecourse on the west coast of Scotland is always a tough contest and many of the horses who still held entries after running in the Aintree Grand National at the weekend have not gone forward to the final declaration stage. Their collective absence from Saturday’s race means that last year’s winner Merigo (who failed to make the cut for the Aintree feature), will definitely get a run as he stands at number 25 in the list of runners in a race where up to 30 horses could conceivably face the starter in a race that will be watched by the best horse racing Ireland and UK.
Chicago Grey is 5lbs worse off with Beshabar for his four-and-a-half-length victory at Cheltenham and many race fans are looking forward to the re-match between the two talented staying chasers. Trained in Ireland by Gordon Elliott, Chicago Grey is currently the 5/1 ante-post favourite, whilst Tim Vaughan’s Beshabar is a best priced 8/1 second favourite.
All the indications are that Ruby Walsh is set to take the ride on Paul Nicholls’ The Minack (9/1), third in a Grade 2 novice chase over three miles at Ascot in February, in a race in which novices traditionally have a good record. Nicholls also seems likely to saddle the top weight Neptune Collonges who will be burdened with a crushing 11st 12lbs, although that weight could be reduced by 5lbs with stable amateur Ryan Mahon likely to be handed the ride.
Northern permit holder John Wade looks set to run the hat-trick seeking Grimthorpe Chase winner Always Right (10/1) in a race where currently just 10 of the 47 entries are set to run off their correct handicap mark.
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