1 week Ago
Willie Mullins has declared six in Saturday's Coral Scottish Grand National at Ayr as he continues his charge to retain the trainers' championship. Last year's winner Macdermott, ante-post favourite Chosen Witness, Olympic Man, Captain Cody, Spanish Harlem and Klarc Kent will all chase the first prize of over £110,000. With Paul Townend an absentee and Danny Mullins maintaining his partnership with Macdermott, Aintree hero Patrick Mullins rides Olympic Man, Seán O'Keeffe is on Chosen Witness, Harry Cobden is on Captain Cody, Brian Hayes on Spanish Harlem and Jonathan Burke on Klarc Kent.
The weights are headed by a former Mullins inmate, Mr Incredible, who was somewhat controversially prevented from running at Aintree last week given he has failed to finish his last five races. Trainer Willie Mullins will send six to Ayr in pursuit of the Scottish Grand National on Saturday Leighlinbridge welcomes Grand National winners home Ben Pauling's Henry's Friend, the Sam Thomas-trained Our Power, Nicky Richards' Famous Bridge and Surrey Quest, beaten a nose by Macdermott 12 months ago, are others towards the head of the weights. Surrey Quest is owned by Surrey Racing, whose Clive Hadingham said: “We had someone walk the course for us this morning and surprisingly the ground has quite a bit of moisture in it which I'm amazed at, so Ayr have done a really good job with the course and there are no ground concerns at all.
“We've been planning this really for the whole season. It was always going to be this or the Grand National and whichever race we went for, it was the same training regime. We were always aiming for a big race in the spring.
“Unseating in the Mandarin (at Newbury in December) meant we were then unlikely to get in at Aintree and we have sort of since been all systems go for Ayr. “It's a competitive field and some good horses are in it, but there's a few not been declared we thought might be and we're going to give it a good go.” Mullins pulled a minor surprise in the Coral Scottish Champion Hurdle by not declaring either Absurde or Kargese.
Instead he runs Ethical Diamond, Bunting, Batman Girac and Karafon, while his title rival Dan Skelton is represented by Valgrand. Kihavah, Dysart Enos, Under Control and Ooh Betty are among a field of 12. Western Diego is the Mullins pick in the Scotty Brand Handicap Chase against Skelton's Asta La Pasta and Etalon, while Loughglynn is the chosen Mullins runner in the CPMS Novices' Champion Handicap Chase.
Mullins also runs two in the Stagecoach We'Ve Got You Novices' Handicap Hurdle, plus Chart Topper in the Tennent's Lager Novices' Hurdle and Dysart Dolomite in the bumper..
