National may be over but Ayr ready for Scottish Grand National
Published:While the great debate surrounding the Grand National rages on, the horse racing world continues to go about their business with meetings at Ffos Las, Hexham, Plumpton, Windsor and Wolverhampton today.
With the National Hunt season drawing to a close, the Ffos Las, Hexham and Plumpton meetings offer punters a late chance to bet on National Hunt racing, and Saturday’s Scottish Grand National meeting at Ayr is one of the final major meetings of the year.
After the drama of last Saturday’s Grand National, Ayr has some way to go to beat the spectacle that was the 2011 Grand National but with 80 horses with entries for the Scottish Grand National, it will be as competitive as ever.
Having missed out on a Grand National win once again, Paul Nicholls has two entries for the Scottish Grand National in Neptunes Collonges (40/1), and The Minack (10/1), but with Neptunes Collonges carrying top weight, The Minack seems his more realistic chance.
Chicago Grey currently heads the Scottish Grand National betting at 6/1 with Beshabar and Always Right sharing second-favouritism at 7/1.
The Minack is then joined by Merigo at 10/1 and they are the front five in the market.
Mergio won the 2010 Scottish Grand National and he is bidding to become the third horse to win consecutive Scottish Grand Nationals since the inaugural race in 1966.
Red Rum won both the Grand National and the Scottish Grand National in the same year in 1974, but 2011 Grand National winner Ballabriggs doesn’t hold an entry at Ayr on Saturday.
There are however plenty of Grand National runners still with entries for Saturday’s race and while many of them will bypass, there could be a few who sneak into the line-up.
A £20 stake on Merigo winning the Scottish Grand National would return £220. New customers can sign up here to claim a £30 free bet.
