Shocks Up North And Down South

This week, we focus on both the jumps and the flat with the Scottish Grand National at Ayr and Guineas Trials at Newbury for a weekend of top-class action.

Starting in Scotland, it was the final Grand National of the season, and six-year-old Kim Roque looked to take the title back to Ireland and Joseph O’Brien. Scotland had plenty of chances, headed by King Of Answers for Lucinda Russell and Michael Scudamore, whilst England was represented with chances from Paul Nicholls and Jamie Snowden.

Isaac Des Obeaux led the way on the heavy going, which made the race an attritional test of stamina. Many couldn’t handle the ground with plenty of withdrawals pre-race, but a chosen few were in contention heading to the final few fences with Kap Vert, Isaac Des Obeaux, Git Maker and favourite Kim Roque all in with a chance.

Kap Vert, Git Maker and Promontory sustained their bid to the second-last, where the latter made a mistake and the former two plugged on with Kap Vert always doing enough to take the prestigious title, providing a shock in the process at 20/1.

And it was hats off to the If The Kap Fits Syndicate, who took over ownership from Ronnie Bartlett at the start of this season and picked up two lower-level wins during the season.

Dedicated Hero made sure Scotland had some success on the day, with a slight surprise in the Scottish Champion Hurdle, as Dedicated Hero won for Sandy Thomson.

Meanwhile, down South, Newbury held Guineas Trials, which threw some new names into the conversation for the first Classics of the season. Sukanya beat the well-fancied Touleen, who came from the rear of the field to beat the favourite by three-quarters of a length in a 16/1 surprise.

Zavareti and Albert Einstein were two-year-olds who created plenty of talk last season before meeting in the Greenham Stakes ahead of their 2000 Guineas bids. However, both succumbed to the talent of Alparslan for Karl Burke, who made all and held off his more fancied rivals, who both placed in behind.

And it was double the success for Karl Burke as Convergent won the John Porter Stakes, beating Newbury regular Al Aasy. This was a race which could have featured Constitution Hill after two impressive performances, but he did not declare due to the firm ground.