Willie Mullins is going all out for another victory in the British jumps trainers’ title race by running six horses in the Coral Scottish Grand National at Ayr on Saturday.
The extraordinary trainer, £1.2 million adrift before the Grand National Festival, closed the gap to £120,000 with three weeks to go, helped by an unprecedented 1-2-3 in the £1m Aintree feature. As a result he has made mass declarations at Ayr in a bid to hold onto the crown he took for the first time last year after winning both the Grand National and Scottish Grand National.
Last year’s winner Macdermott, ante-post favourite Chosen Witness, Olympic Man, Captain Cody, Spanish Harlem and Klarc Kent will all chase the first prize of over £110,000.
Danny Mullins rides Macdermott again while Patrick Mullins, successful on Nick Rockett last Saturday, will attempt to pull off a famous double on Olympic Man.
The weights are headed by a former Mullins inmate, Mr Incredible, who was somewhat controversially prevented from running at Aintree last week given he has failed to finish his last five races.
Ben Pauling’s Henry’s Friend, the Sam Thomas-trained Our Power, Nicky Richards’ Famous Bridge and Surrey Quest, beaten a nose by Macdermott 12 months ago, are others towards the head of the weights.
Surrey Quest is owned by Surrey Racing, whose Clive Hadingham said: “We had someone walk the course for us this morning and surprisingly the ground has quite a bit of moisture in it which I’m amazed at, so Ayr have done a really good job with the course and there are no ground concerns at all.
“We’ve been planning this really for the whole season. It was always going to be this or the Grand National and whichever race we went for, it was the same training regime. We were always aiming for a big race in the spring.
“Unseating in the Mandarin (at Newbury in December) meant we were then unlikely to get in at Aintree and we have sort of since been all systems go for Ayr. It’s a competitive field and some good horses are in it but, as there’s a few who have not been declared, we thought we might give it a good go. ”
Mullins pulled a minor surprise in the Coral Scottish Champion Hurdle by not declaring either Absurde or Kargese. Instead he runs Ethical Diamond, Bunting, Batman Girac and Karafon, while his title rival Dan Skelton is represented by Valgrand.
Western Diego is the Mullins pick in the Scotty Brand Handicap Chase against Skelton’s Asta La Pasta and Etalon, while Loughglynn is the chosen Mullins runner in the CPMS Novices’ Champion Handicap Chase.
Mullins also runs two in the Stagecoach We’ve Got You Novices’ Handicap Hurdle, plus Chart Topper in the Tennent’s Lager Novices’ Hurdle and Dysart Dolomite in the bumper.
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