Scottish Grand National: Merigo can be National treasure again

Scotland’s richest race of the year, worth £102,000 to the winner, is off at 3.25pm, and Merigo will be bidding to become the first horse since Queen’s Taste in 1956 to regain the crown after losing it.

That latter victory followed the wins of Queen’s Taste in 1953 and 1954, when the Scottish National was held at the defunct Bogside course near Irvine.

Had he been a few feet further forward than where he finished last year, Merigo would now be going for a hat-trick, as he finished less than a length second to Beshabar 12 months ago following his win in 2010.

The 11-year-old, who carries the colours of Scotland’s most successful owner Raymond Anderson Green, has never finished outside of the first three in seven starts at Ayr, winning four of those races.

Trainer Andrew Parker said from his Lockerbie base: “What you see is what you get with him. He’s the same old Merigo and hopefully he’s going to run a big race.

“He’s a year older now, but he seems in as good a form as ever. Last year he was running from out of the handicap and officially off a mark of 142. This year he gets into the race proper and he runs off 134, so that’s a positive.

“He takes his chance again and, if he runs his race great, if he doesn’t, then he doesn’t owe anybody anything.

“He’s a funny horse as sometimes you think he wants better ground, but then he has handled soft as well. I think the main thing with him is getting into a rhythm early. He’s not been a fast horse and he’s no superstar, but he’s won the best part of a quarter of a million pounds and he’s done us proud.”

The media and public attention will centre on the horse who will almost certainly start favourite, Harry The Viking.

His owners Sir Alex Ferguson, Peter Done, Ged Mason and Ron Wood will arrive at the course by helicopter around noon. The four millionaires have a “leg each” of Harry The Viking, who completed a four-timer before finishing second to Teaforthree in the Diamond Jubilee National Hunt Chase over four miles at the Cheltenham Festival.

“He’s a confirmed stayer and he ran really well at Cheltenham. There’s a nice break between Cheltenham and here and obviously if you stay the trip you have a live chance,” said trainer Paul Nicholls’s assistant Dan Skelton.

Stable jockey Ruby Walsh teams up with the seven-year-old for the first time, and that could make the difference between winning and losing.

Irish hope Portrait King showed an extreme test of stamina held no fears for him when rallying on the run-in under a powerful Denis O’Regan ride to snatch victory from Posh Bird in the Eider Chase at Newcastle in February.

“He’s travelled well and he seems in good form with himself,” said County Kildare trainer Maurice Phelan. “He’s had eight weeks since Newcastle so he’s coming here a fresh horse and I think the ground will be in his favour.

“It was a choice between this and the Irish Grand National and we decided to come here for the longer trip.”

Tony McCoy’s mount Galaxy Rock, trained by Jonjo O’Neill, will surely contract in the betting as punters realise he is a live contender. It would be entirely in keeping with the nature of racing for O’Neill and McCoy to win just a week after Sunnyhillboy finished second in the Grand National in which they lost Synchronised, the Cheltenham Gold Cup winner.

Junior fell at the second fence in the Aintree National, so takes his place today under top weight of 11st 12lbs. “He seems to have come out of it fine,” said trainer David Pipe.

“He’s obviously got a lot of weight, but it’s all systems go.”

Apart from Merigo, Scotland has little chance of producing a home-trained winner, though Abbeybraney, trained bang on the border at Bonchester Bridge by George Bewley, has been touted as a live outsider.

The two other Scottish-based contenders Etxalar, trained by Lucinda Russell, and James Ewart’s Captain Americo, seem to have little chance as they are running from out of the handicap and should be carrying much less weight than their 10st minimum – but then that was the weight carried by Merigo when he won two years ago.

The chief supporting race on a cracking eight-race card is the Isle of Skye Blended Scotch Whisky Scottish Champion Hurdle at 2.50 for which Edgardo Sol, the mount of Walsh and trained by Nicholls, is a confident selection.