It's time to head over to The Horse's Mouth and make your selection for the Scottish Grand National! A total of 26 runners are due to go to post for the Coral Scottish Grand National at Ayr today. The £200,000 main event of the weekend will be run over a distance just shy of 4 miles, on ground that's forecast to be soft - it's going to be a stamina sapper!
The betting market for this year's race is dominated by the man of the moment, Willie Mullins, and this comes as no surprise after his success just a week ago in the Aintree showpiece with I Am Maximus. The man is on fire. Although not known for having runners at Ayr, Mullins is sending 6 challengers to this year's Scottish equivalent and undoubtedly has the bookies running scared.
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THM Analysis
THM is feeling full of beans today so we've analysed our racecards and done some of the hard work for you; here are a few eye catching THM Stats for the race:
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Course Form
Ever heard that saying "Horse's for Courses"?! It's surprising that there are only 3 horses in the race who have even run at Ayr before.
Elvis Mail (50/1) is a course regular and has 3 wins from 7 runs at the track, albeit in much easier races.
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Distance Form
You're going to need a horse with plenty of heart and bundles of stamina to take this prize!
Anglers Crag (9/1) and My Silver Lining (16/1) look strong on the distance stats. Good old Tommy Beau (33/1) has ran 8 times over these extended distances - placing 6 times. What a legend.
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Worth the price?
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Spanish Harlem (15/2)
Spanish Harlem has never won over fences, never raced beyond 2 and a half miles and THM figures say his speeds are poor. Crazy that he's nearly favourite for the race, but he's the ride of Paul Townend so what do you expect?
Macdermott (10/1)
Macdermott has won only 1 of his 5 starts over fences, admittedly very easily last time out, but he's been hiked up 16lbs in the handicap for doing so. Should be fine on the ground but he's only a 6 year-old and no horse aged 6 has won this race in the last 30 years...
Mr Incredible (12/1)
Mr Incredible unseated his rider in the Aintree Grand National last week when well fancied at 10/1, though his jockey, Brian Hayes, was sent flying into the abyss that day. They've clearly both had enough of each other as Patrick Mullins takes the ride tomorrow. THM shows this horse has had 4 runs over extended race distances, yielding 2 placed efforts. Has only 1 win to his name from 10 chases though. Probably doesn't scream as the winner in waiting, but can you ever rule out a Mullins horse? Probably not.
Gold Cup Bailly (50/1) has had 2 wins from 4 course runs.
Whistleinthedark (100/1) placed in his sole run at Ayr, but that was over hurdles. Slim pickings.