Can Kitty’s Light Make an 842-Mile Scottish National Trip Pay Off?
In a break from tradition, the 2022 Scottish Grand National takes place a week before its better-known Aintree counterpart.
Nick Scholfield and Win My Wings trail the field at Exeter in January. The mare would eventually win the race. She scored again at Newcastle in February. ©GettyImages
The four-mile contest, covered by UK’s best betting sites, has been staged at Ayr since 1966. Its list of previous winners includes the great Red Rum. The famous horse won the race in 1974 when carrying 11-stone 13-pounds. No horse has ever hauled more weight to victory.
The topweights in this weekend’s contest are Hill Sixteen and Vintage Clouds. In addition to being burdened with 11-stone nine-pounds, Vintage Clouds is 12-years-old. There has only been one Scottish Grand National winner older than 11 during the past 80 years.
Will the Long Journey Pay Dividends?
The early betting favors Kitty’s Light and Win My Wings. Both horses are trained by Christian Williams in South Wales.
Can they make the 842-mile round trip to Ayr Racecourse pay off? Williams’ statistics indicate they have outstanding chances.
The former rider-turned-trainer has had a brilliant season – his 24 chase winners have come from just 120 runners.
A £1 level-stake bet placed on each of Williams’ horses over fences during the current campaign would have yielded £45 in winnings.
His 2021/22 season may yet produce further profits. Kitty’s Light and Win My Wings can be backed at 5/1 and 8/1 respectively.
Kitty’s is Not Lightly Raced
Kitty’s Light is only a six-year-old. The last six-year-old to win the Scottish Grand National was Earth Summit in 1994.
Four years later, that horse went on to win the Aintree Grand National. Little Polveir is another horse that won both Nationals during his career.
Despite being six, Kitty’s Light is already a veteran of 13 chase starts. Amongst those starts, he has won or placed ten times. On his latest outing, in the Grade-3 Coral Trophy Handicap Chase, Kitty’s Light showed he will almost certainly relish a step up to extreme distances with a dour second-placed effort behind Cap Du Nord. He was giving that rival 16-pounds.
Can Wings Fly Home?
Stablemate Win My Wings showed she had abundant stamina when winning the four-mile one-furlong Eider Handicap Chase at Newcastle five weeks ago. It was a career-best effort.
The handicapper has penalized the nine-year-old for that victory. But she is now chasing a hat-trick and when mares hit form, they can improve beyond all recognition.
Of the mare’s chance Christian Williams, quoted in Scotland’s Daily Record, said: “She is in good heart and runs well at this time of year. That was a first try for her over a marathon trip in the Eider and I’d hope there would still be some improvement from that.”
Two Novices to Consider
Recent history suggests a novice chaser could easily land this year’s Coral Scottish Grand National. They have taken three of the past five editions of the contest.
Trainer Alan King won this race in 2013. His 2022 hopes lay with Major Dundee. The seven-year-old who began his case career in November has already scored twice.
His latest start was a runner-up effort in a Newbury novice handicap. It very much suggested he would appreciate a trip in excess of three miles. Unexposed, Major Dundee could run a huge race off of 10-stone nine-pounds.
Nigel Twiston-Davies is a three-time Scottish Grand National-winning trainer. He too has a big chance with a novice chaser.
His Fantastikas has won two of his five starts over fences this season. When beaten his form has still been strong. Fantastikas latest effort was a respectable seventh-placed effort in the Ultima Handicap Chase at the Cheltenham Festival.
Irish Runner Could Create a Storm
It has been over 150 years since an Irish-trained horse won a Scottish Grand National. Stormy Judge has been well backed to right that wrong.
Despite nine starts, trainer Pat Fahy failed to get a win out of this seven-year-old over hurdles. However, Stormy Judge did win two big-field chases at the beginning of 2021.
He also went into many notebooks when cruising into contention on his latest outing. A lack of fitness or heavy going may have accounted for his tame finish.
Stormy Judge is almost certainly better than his current form suggests and horse racing’s best betting sites are rightly cautious. 10/1 is the best price available about Danny Mullins’s mount.
Scottish Grand National Verdict
It is easy to make a strong case for many of the 24 Scottish Grand National runners. Novices have done very well in this contest down the years and there could be a handicap snip lurking amongst these lightly-raced sorts.
However, Kitty’s Light runs off a handicap mark six pounds below his highest rating. His running style suggests he will gallop all day long and his trainer has excelled in big-field valuable handicaps this season.
Recommended Bet:
- Kitty’s Light 3.35pm Ayr
