Road To Cheltenham's Ayr Scottish Grand National Day Tips

It’s Scottish Grand National Day at Ayr and jumps racing fans will be looking forward to what looks a hugely competitive card. Fresh from a profitable week at Aintree, I’m back to tackle Saturday’s action and I’ve landed on three selections at the meeting. As mentioned in my ante-post piece earlier this week, I’m particularly sweet on a runner in the feature and he remains my strongest fancy of the day. Without further ado, here are my thoughts on some of the standout runners at Ayr.

LE NEZ CREUX (0.5pts E/W)

Best price 6/1.

I’m taking a punt on the Gavin Cromwell-trained LE NEZ CREUX in the opener and I’m hoping she goes well on her debut for new owners Robcour. Bought for €320,000 back in November, she’s ready to run and she has some nice French form in the book – and she was clearly held in high regard in France, going off favourite on five of her eight starts.

Cromwell knows how to prime one for a nice handicap, with Will The Wise victorious in the Topham Chase at Aintree’s Grand National Festival. She has a BHA mark of 132 and Cromwell himself stated that she “has a much lower mark in the UK than at home” so it will be interesting to see which handicapper’s assessment is accurate.

She didn’t stay the 2m6f trip in a Grade 1 on heavy ground at Auteuil in November so the drop back to two miles will be much more up her street. She’s still a young horse so you would hope her best is yet to come but Cromwell won’t be bringing her over for a jolly.

TELLHERTHENAME (1pt WIN)

Best price 11/4.

Making his first start since joining the Dan Skelton yard, TELLHERTHENAME ran a lovely race in the County Hurdle – finishing less than eight lengths behind winner Wilful. It was his first run since October and he should come on leaps and bounds for it, especially with Harry Skelton now in the saddle for this weekend’s Scottish Champion Hurdle.

This horse has bags of ability but he’s yet to put it all together on the big stage – I actually think Saturday is going to be the day. Off a mark of 133 but now trained by the Champion Trainer, there should be a fair bit of scope off his rating and I’m expecting him to go very close though he wouldn’t want too much rain to arrive before Saturday’s race.

The presence of Tutti Quanti at the top of the weights means that the selection carries a nice racing weight and he could be Skelton’s best chance of a winner at Ayr. There are a few contenders but they’ll need to be well handicapped to beat Tellherthename.
 

KIM ROQUE (1pt WIN)

Best price 5/1.

Already tipped as a 2pt win selection at 7/1, I’m happy to add another 1pt win on KIM ROQUE in the Scottish Grand National. I believe he remains a backable price at 5/1 and I’m hoping he can give proud Scotsman Ronnie Bartlett a famous victory in the feature race at Ayr – there’ll be some party on Saturday night if he does!

Joseph O’Brien has enjoyed a fruitful National Hunt campaign this year, punching well above his weight considering the size of his jumping squad. He’s been fighting against the behemoths of the jumps game and he’s more than holding his own, and a Scottish National success for Kim Roque would be the cherry on top.

The trip should be fine for him and he’s versatile with regards to ground. He wasn’t given the best of rides at Cheltenham so the return of J J Slevin in the saddle is a huge positive and I’m hoping he can get the job done. All being well, he should go very, very close.