The Scottish Grand National – What’s Your Secret To Success?

What are your tips when it comes to finding a Scottish Grand National winner? Another large field handicap expected to entertain those infrequent punters still high off the success of the Aintree renewal, many will resort to the fine art of selecting the horse with the zaniest name or the jockey with the brightest silks. But which trends do you look at when it comes to identifying your Ayr charge? This is a compilation of the most frequently discussed and utilised Scottish Grand National trends.

Remember to take a look at our Scottish Grand National betting tips here. This Ayr feature race is slated to go off at 3:45 on Saturday 18th April.

Weight

Whilst Godsmejudge (2013) was the last winner of the Scottish Grand National to carry over 11st, he has been the only mount to carry such a burden in the last 10 renewals. Whilst this time around it may just be the likes of Sam Winner and Houblon Des Obeaux who carry such substantial burdens, this issue of weight may still be pivotal to finding the Scottish Grand National winner.

There seems to be no concern at the other end of the handicap with exactly half of the last 10 victors having carried burdens of just 10st. Again, there are usually more of these runners and therefore more chance of finding a winner amongst those at the bottom end of your racecard. Will you cut down your search to just include those with low allotted weights?

Experience

Clearly experience doesn’t just refer to age, though at seven-years-old Godsmejudge has been the only winner in the last 13 runnings to fall out of the expected age bracket for winners, that being from 8 to 11.

What is meant by experience, primarily, is experience of the course. Merigo succeeded in taking home the prize in both 2010 and 2012 whilst Godsmejudge came to within a length-and-a-half of winning back-to-back Scottish Nationals last year. Gone To Lunch was a two-time runner up in both 2009 and 2010 and another example of how prior race involvement can set a potential winner apart. How will this affect your selections?

Favouritism

With no winning favourite in the last 14 runnings of the Scottish Grand National, it may be worth thinking again should you be looking at the market leader in the betting. The last time a favourite came up with the goods was back in 2000 as Ferdy Murphy’s 5/1 joint-favourite Paris Pike finished three lengths clear of 25/1 shout Noble Lord. Atop the betting at this moment in time are the pair of Gallant Oscar and Broadway Buffalo. Are these horses capable of breaking such a duck?

Despite this, the majority of these last 14 winners have been priced up at 20/1 or shorter. To be more specific only three (2006’s winner Run For Paddy, 33/1; 2008’s winner Iris De Balme, 66/1; 2014’s winner Al Co, 40/1) have had a starting price larger than 20/1. Whilst our current tips fall just out of this remit at the minute, we expect them to shorten up in the coming days. Does this trend matter to you?

What’s your secret to finding the winner of the Scottish Grand National? Let us know!