Scottish Grand National: Majestic Merigo makes it a double

At the end of an utterly thrilling race, a home-trained and home-owned horse, Merigo, won the Coral Scottish Grand National for the second time in three years, the first horse since Queen’s Taste in 1956 at the defunct Bogside course to regain the “Scottish”, and the first horse to achieve this feat at Ayr.

The 2010 winner, who was also second last year, brought glory to his jockey Timmy Murphy, who gave the horse a peerless ride, to his trainer Andrew Parker and to his owner, Caithness-born Raymond Anderson Green, father-in-law of Murphy, but above all to himself.

It was wonderful, magical stuff that brought the 17,000 crowd cheering to their feet as the race was won in the bravest of fashions, Murphy somehow cajoling Merigo to battle back on the run-in and put himself in front of the gallant Auroras Encore – brilliantly ridden by young Scottish jockey Ryan Mania – just a few yards from the finishing line.

It was not just Merigo and his connections that won, but racing itself.

For no horse fell, nor were there any injuries to men and horses, and it was notable that the jockeys pulled up those mounts which have given their best – the way it should be. More than that, humans and animals in partnership reminded us that sport can be a transcendent thing, able to move thousands of people.

More than any other, this has become the Scottish people’s race, and judging by the electric atmosphere more than an hour after it was over, Merigo is the Scottish people’s champion racehorse, no question.

At Ayr earlier today, there were plenty of celebrities to be seen, led by Sir Alex Ferguson. There was even a politician or two, including former racing columnist turned First Minister Alex Salmond.

For once the weather forecasters got it wrong and the track was bathed in sunshine for much of the afternoon, which dried out the ground a tad.

The big race began in sensible fashion – a lesson learned from Aintree last week, perhaps. Garleton and Fruity O’Rooney lead for most of the first two circuits, with Merigo always in the van.

Harry The Viking, bet into favourite as part-owner Ferguson looked on, ran no sort of race and was in trouble a long way out. Around the final turn, Aurora’s Encore under Mania took the lead but Murphy had Merigo in perfect position. Mania did superbly to keep his mount in front over the last, but Murphy and Merigo could not be denied.

Trainer Parker said: “He’s a horse that’s hard to get fit but if every horse had a heart like his, this would be an easy game.”

Murphy jokingly dismissed his equine partner as a “plough horse – the ugliest horse I’ve seen… but he has the heart of a lion.”

His wife Verity stood with her father and mother and confessed that her main worry was that her second son Fin might not fit into the grand trophy, as his older brother Lucas had done for a Christmas card image two years ago.

With the trainer confirming Merigo will be back next year, glamorous granny Anita Anderson Green added: “Verity will just have to have another baby!”

Raymond Anderson Green was ecstatic: “Timmy gave him a fantastic ride, and it’s bizarre that he doesn’t get more support. Andrew has a dozen horses in his yard, and his small stable which we’ve supported for 25 years has shown it’s a match for the biggest – that means so much to me.”

Salmond, as you might expect, duly found the words to sum up what Merigo’s win meant to so many people, and not just those like him who tipped and bet him: “What a fantastic race. A Scottish winner of the National, the money is out of the bookies’ satchels, and the nation’s finances have taken a turn for the better. He’s been first, second, first again, the sun is shining, you can’t get better than that.”

No point in trying to top that verdict. It was Scotland’s day and Scotland’s horse won our Scottish Grand National. Can you beat it?