Poker De Sivola ready to give Ferdy Murphy four of a kind

Published on Friday 16 April 2010 23:03

FERDY Murphy is in bullish mood as Poker De Sivola bids to give him a fourth success in the Coral Scottish Grand National this afternoon.

The West Witton handler has saddled Paris Pike (2000), Joes Edge (2005) and Hot Weld (2007) to take the Ayr marathon, and this year's representative arrives on the back of victory in the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham.

"We've had no problems with him since Cheltenham and everything is grand," said Murphy. "He's kept on progressing. Graham (Lee] rode a couple of bits of work on him and has been very happy, so it's fingers crossed.

"The race has cut up a bit, but you still need a lot of luck with a lot of runners. He has a nice racing weight and we're lucky to be in the handicap really as if we'd had rain and Denman had run we wouldn't have been. It's going to be quite quick ground – I've got a good few horses who aren't running up there because of that – but this lad should be fine on it. He definitely has a decent chance and I think he's a justifiable favourite."

Paul Nicholls believes Meanus Dandy could still be ahead of the handicapper as he lines up in the Ayr showpiece.

For a long time it looked as though 2008 Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Denman would be the champion trainer's main hope today, but he has bypassed the contest due to the quick ground.

Meanus Dandy has a rather different profile, having won just one of his four starts since progressing from the point-to-point sphere, but Nicholls feels the marathon trip and track conditions will play to his strengths.

"He's got a nice racing weight," said Nicholls. "He didn't win a great race at Sandown last time and it is a bit of a job to get a handle on his mark, but we thought this would be a nice race for him.

"The ground will be absolutely perfect for him and we won't know about the trip until we try, but he won three point-to-points on galloping tracks and we always thought a trip wouldn't be a problem for him. Hopefully he has a good chance and we're just hoping he has a few pounds in hand, but we won't know until after the race. Paddy Brennan rides and he is obviously a very good jockey who can do the weight, so it's ideal."

Owner Henry Ponsonby is confident Scots Dragoon has everything in his favour as he carries just 9st 7lb under top conditional David Bass.

"This hasn't really been the plan as when it looked as though Denman was going to run we had 7st 9lb," said Ponsonby. "We were going to Perth next week but with Denman and one or two others defecting, it's really worked out for our horse. I'm quite bullish about his chances."

Andrew Parker believes the extended four miles will bring out the best in Merigo, who is bidding to keep the race in Scotland. "The Scottish National is the race Mr (Ray] Green (owner] wants to try and win," said Parker. "He stays very well – that's his main asset. He's won a couple of times up at Ayr, so he likes the course."

John Mackie is hopeful of a good run from Gidam Gidam, who is proven at the trip having won over four miles at Doncaster in February. "He's in good form and we're looking forward to the race," said the Derbyshire trainer. "When he first ran over four miles a couple of years ago we had the Scottish National pencilled in and the way this season has panned out it's dropped into place."

The Dessie Hughes-trained Montero is one of two Irish-trained runners in the field. "He's only a novice but goes on good ground and he stays well, so he takes his chance and he's a good leaper," said the County Kildare handler.

There were no withdrawals yesterday morning, which means first-reserve Fine By Me will miss the 30-runner feature.