Scottish National win ‘like coming home’ for King

Wayne Hutchinson is all smiles as he poses after winning the Coral Scottish Grand National. Picture: Robert Perry

A generous 12-1 shot, Godsmejudge jumped superbly and galloped remorselessly under Wayne Hutchinson to record a four lengths victory from Big Occasion, with Master Marker and Tour des Champs much further behind in third and fourth.

King was taking it easy yesterday on the way home to the Barbury Castle stables in Wiltshire after a party with his family at their home in Lanarkshire, but he did surface long enough to rule Godsmejudge out of the season-ending bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown next weekend. King said: “He is such a hard horse to pass when he gets in front so I was glad when Wayne, who was superb, gave him his head, and we always thought that this would be his race this season, with Aintree in the back of my mind for next year.

“I’m very proud. I think this means as much as any of the wins I have had. I’m speechless,” added King. “I worked across the road years ago, I know the area well and it’s like coming home.

So often having to play second fiddle to stable jockey Robert “Choc” Thornton, Hutchinson has come into his own since Thornton has been on the sidelines through injury. Hutchinson has had big race success before: “I have had a Welsh National, two Festival winners and my first Grade One at Aintree. They are all fantastic, they all count and they mean a lot.”

Typically, he gave most praise to his mount: “You can’t do it without the horses, and he was fantastic.”

Hutchinson went on to experience one of the deep lows of racing, being thrown from the back of King’s Reddy Tobouggie in the closing bumper. The jockey was reported fine after the fall but, sadly, Reddy Tobouggie did not survive the horrible incident, blighting the day for King and his stable.

In retrospect, Godsmejudge fitted the bill for a Scottish National winner, being a young but proven stayer from a stable in form. Former Scottish rugby captain turned pundit Andy Nicol revealed his scientific analysis that led him to bet on the horse – “he was number nine and that was my number for Scotland.” Well, there are worse tipping systems around . . .

The biggest disappointment for most of the crowd was the failure of Grand National victor Auroras Encore to complete the course, Galashiels jockey Ryan Mania pulling him up on the second circuit. Red Rum’s feat of winning the Aintree and Scottish Nationals in the same year thus remains unique almost 40 years on.

Trainer Sue Smith had been confident that the 11-year-old was fine after his Aintree exertions, but after early setbacks, Auroras Encore was never going altogether well and Mania did the right thing in calling a halt. One of Auroras Encore owners, Jim Beaumont from Edinburgh, was not too disappointed by the outcome, and for a man approaching his 80th birthday, he has no qualms about expressing a long-term hope for another of the trio’s horses.

Beaumont said: “He got bumped about at the start and then at the second fence there were two fallers in front of him and he had to dodge those. That broke his stride and he had to start again, and then another fell in front of him at the fifth and he had to dodge that one as well. Going up the back straight for the last time it was soft and he just said that’s enough.”

Beaumont revealed how he and fellow owners Douglas Pryde and David van der Hoeven had not intended to buy Auroras Encore at all. “We only got him just before Christmas,” said Beaumont. “We went down to buy Mr Moonshine and we couldn’t afford him, so we bought Auroras Encore instead, largely because of his age as he is two years older than Mr Moonshine. He turned out to be the best buy.

“It took us less than five minutes to buy him. That’s how to do it – buy the horse in five minutes at Christmas, run him in the National and win. No effort at all, really.”

Beaumont, a long-term supporter of Scottish racing, gave a tip especially for Scotsman readers: “We also got Mr Moonshine eventually, and we think he will be a very good horse next year.”

Jockey Tom Scudamore suffered concussion and was hospitalised after his fall from Problema Tic at the second in Saturday’s big one, but his father, former champion jockey Peter, tweeted yesterday ‘thanks for all the good wishes, Tom seems fine this morning.’