Another bracingly competitive Scottish Grand National. I first attended the meeting in 1968 to see Neville Crump’s Arcturus win. It’s many years since I’ve been back, but I’ll be there today to see the big race and take some pictures.
Always tough to pick the winner, but a few caught my eye.
Elvis Mail and Famous Bridge look particularly good value EW to 7 places with Bet365 – 16/1 and 19/1 respectively (you need to click on Each Way Extra at the top of the betting to see the 7 places price).
Paddy Power’s price about the Sandy Thomson horse Flower Of Scotland looks crazily out of line at 28/1, almost double the price 99% of the others offer. He too must be backed EW to 6 places.
Lucinda’s pair, Mighty Thunder and Your Own Story should also run very well, if you don’t fancy the others I mention.
So, for blog P&L purposes I am recommending a fiver EW to 7/6 places: Flower Of Scotland at 28/1: Famous Bridge 19/1, and Elvis Mail at 16/1.
I’m particularly keen on Elvis Mail who hacked up last time in his first attempt at 26 furlongs. He used to be campaigned over 16 to 18 furlongs, and proved a revelation in his first attempt at a real staying trip. The formbook says he wants soft ground, but that might have seemed his preference simply because it added stamina to the mix. Victory over 26f by no means assures the horse of staying the 32f here, but at the price I’m happy to take the chance.
Good luck all
Joe
My usual warning. Anything I put up as a tip here is for ‘fun money’ – stakes you can afford to lose almost without even thinking about it. There’s just as much fun to be had with small stakes.
Blog P&L for this jumps season to £5 unit stakes: £153 +
Steeplechasing 