Merigo ends 28-year wait for home win in Scottish Grand National

IT WAS the day that long-held dreams came true. For the first time in 28 years, a Scottish-trained horse won the £200,000 Coral Scottish Grand National, and it was very much a family affair for Scotland's first family of racing.

Perennial leading Scottish owner Raymond Anderson Green's familiar colours of green with a yellow sash were carried to victory in the four-mile marathon aboard Merigo, trained at Lockerbie by Andrew Parker, son of the late Colin who trained Anderson Green's great 1997 Cheltenham Festival winner Sparky Gayle and who was also responsible for the owner's first winner over jumps, Brandy Hambro at Carlisle back in 1986.

The winning jockey was Timmy Murphy, who is married to Raymond and Anita Anderson Green's daughter, Verity. Murphy won the Aintree Grand National two years ago on Comply or Die, and said yesterday's victory was "number two" only to that momentous triumph.

A huge crowd enjoyed good weather and gave the traditional starting roar when the tapes went up.

Merigo was always up in the van as Killyglen and Razor Royale cut out the running.

Heading up the home straight with a full circuit to go, Murphy sent Merigo into the lead and he proceeded to jump round faultlessly and take a huge lead in the final straight. Only the 15-2 favourite, Gone To Lunch, second in the race last year, came anywhere near to catching Merigo, but the lead was too great and the 18-1 chance won by nine lengths.

Gone To Lunch was second again, with 40-1 shot No Panic staying on for third, while Razor Royale battled to beat Dom d'Orgeval by a nose for fourth at 20-1.

Last year ago Anderson Green pulled out Merigo because the ground was too quick. His judgment was proved correct yesterday on ground with the necessary give that allowed long-overdue history to be made.

It was back in 1982 that the late great trainer Ken Oliver was the last Scottish trainer to win the National with Cockle Strand, the fifth and final National winner trained near Hawick by Oliver.

Born in Caithness, and now based near Haddington in East Lothian, businessman Anderson Green said: "Ken Oliver's last ever winner was for us, and he will be up there looking down and thinking on us. To win the Scottish National has always been my dream – it's only taken 26 years.

"Merigo is a fresh horse by default because he was snowed in for the Welsh National and the Eider Chase at Newcastle was cancelled, and then the ground was drying up so confidence was low. But it's turned out absolutely brilliant."

Looking on, his wife Anita said: "He deserves this – he lives and breathes horse ownership and always takes the knocks, so he deserves today."

Winning trainer Andrew Parker said: "Mr Anderson Green is a very patriotic Scotsman so I'm glad I have been able to tick off the biggest Scottish jumps race for him. It's been an absolute nightmare of a winter for us because we never had him on the racecourse.

"It's nice to make history. I will probably never ever have a horse as good enough as him to go to Aintree, so why not next year? He'll stay eight miles, never mind four.

"He just looks like an old-fashioned hunter – he came in with a police horse and if you put the policeman aboard him, you wouldn't know which was which."

Proud son-in-law Murphy said: "He jumped and travelled well and it is great for Andrew and particularly for Ray and Anita to have won this race."

There were plaudits, too, from the winning connections for the ground staff led by acting Clerk of the Course Hazel Peplinski whose final meeting this was. "They have done a fantastic job with the conditions today," said Anderson Green.

Perhaps champion trainer Paul Nicholls will now rue his decision to pull out the mighty Denman from yesterday's race for fear that the ground would be too firm. On this performance, however, there is no saying that even Denman would have been able to pin back Merigo. It was also a hugely deserved win for the Anderson Greens, not only for their support of Scottish racing for many years, but for the massive amount of unsung charity work which they do for the NSPCC in particular.

The National brought up a quickfire double for Murphy as the preceding Samsung Electronics Champion Hurdle had seen him mount a blistering front-running all-the-way performance on Overturn, the 4-1 favourite trained by Donald McCain Jnr.

The opener, the Purvis Marquees Juvenile Novice Hurdle, went to Largs-based owner Mrs Jo Tracey's Hunterview, the mount of Tom Scudamore, trained by David Pipe. The Scottish Sun Future Champions Novices Chase was then won in fine fashion by French Opera, trained by Nicky Henderson and ridden by Barry Geraghty.

Geraghty brought up his double in the race after the National, the Douglas John McGill's 40th Handicap Hurdle, when he booted home Andytown, again trained by Henderson, and the pair gained their treble on the day with well-backed 13-8 favourite Sprinter Sacre, facile winner of the closing Ashleybank Investments bumper.

Noble Quest under Richard Johnson earlier won the Albert Bartlett handicap chase for trainer Peter Hobbs. Thanks to Iceland's big smoke, the number of Irish visitors in the healthy 17,000 crowd was down, but there was one winner from Ireland, Ian Ferguson's Bally Wall winning the Weatherbys novices' handicap chase under Andrew Lynch.

The parties at Ayr, Lockerbie and in East Lothian are probably still going on this morning. No wonder – a Scottish winner in the Scottish National is a rare event and well worth celebrating.