178 horses have been declared at the 6-day stage for Saturday’s Scottish Grand National card, with final declarations due to be made by 10am on Thursday morning.
There are 33 horses still in the £200,000 Coral Scottish Grand National at 3.35 and 18 still looking to run in the £100,000 Scottish Champion Hurdle at 2.15, with Saturday’s Aintree Grand National winning trainer Willie Mullins still having 11 horses in the National and 7 in the Champion Hurdle.
Mullins doesn’t have any entries on Friday’s opening day but the ferries will be busy transporting the horses set to run from his current 40 entries on Saturday’s card, with the Closutton yard having made entries in all 8-races after winning 4 races on Scottish Grand National day in 2024.
Last year’s 1-2-4-6 in the Scottish Grand National could re-oppose again this year with Macdermott, Surrey Quest, Klarc Kent and Spanish Harlem all still possible runners in the 4-miles highlight which saw the first two separated by just a nose 12 months ago.
The current top-weight on 12-0 is the Sandy Thomson trained ex Willie Mullins horse Mr Incredible which was disallowed from running in last week’s Grand National at Aintree due to special conditions which allowed a panel of BHA experts to examine the horse’s completion record.
The Mullins trained High Class Hero is next on 11-12 with the weights stretching down to the 3 horses still not guaranteed a run on Saturday – Klarc Kent, Magna Sam and Brandt.
There are 14 horses declared for the opening £50,000 Scotty Brand Handicap Chase over 2 miles at 1.10 with 25 still in the £50,000 CPMS Novices’ Champion Handicap chase over 3 miles at 1.43.
The Mullins pair of Kargesse and Absurde head the weights for the Scottish Champion Hurdle on 11-12 and 11-11 with Kelso’s dual Morebattle Hurdle winner Cracking Rhapsody a likely runner for the in-form Ewan Whillans team.
Final declarations for Friday will be made on Wednesday with Saturday’s fields confirmed on Thursday morning.
