A SUPERB all-the-way riding performance by Paddy Brennan aboard Hello Bud earned trainer Nigel Twiston- Davies his third Coral Scottish Grand National at Ayr yesterday. The connections and those who bet the 12-1 shot had to survive a late scare, however, when perennial champion jockey Tony McCoy brought Gone To Lunch with a rattling late run and failed by just half a length to peg back the winner, who made it a hat-trick for Twiston-Davies after Earth Summit in 1994 and Captain Dibble in 1992.
It was yet another thrilling finish to the £200,000 four mile marathon run in warm sunshine which had firmed up the ground and caused Tricky Trickster, According To John, and the only Scottish-trained entry Merigo to be withdrawn late. Native Coral
also came out and was reported ill.
No doubt some ante-post punters cursed Twiston-Davies for the decision to pull out the well-bet Tricky Trickster, but those who stuck by the trainer and lumped onto Hello Bud were rewarded. Chief Dan George from the James Moffatt stable and Ferdy Murphy's Nine De Sivola were heavily backed and went off as 11-2 joint favourites.
From the start, Hello Bud set out to make all, and King Barry – named by owner Raymond Anderson Green after Rangers' ex-captain Ferguson – went with him, while Sea Diva and Sound Accord blew their chances early with serious blunders. While the horses were on the back straight, a cretinous streaker ran down the track in the front of the stands. He had nothing to flaunt.
Hello Bud and King Barry led as they passed the stands first time, with Out The Black and Coe following a few lengths behind. Nine de Sivola was held up while the other joint favourite Chief Dan George ran only in snatches.
As they came down the straight for the second time King Barry briefly headed Hello Bud but Brennan soon had his horse in command again. The only faller, That's Rhythm, went early in the back straight on the third circuit, while 12-1 chance Gone To Lunch began to make eye-catching ground from the rear.
Coming into the straight for the final time, Brennan forced Hello Bud ahead, but Tom O'Brien on Out The Black came to challenge as King Barry's effort under Timmy Murphy failed to last as long as a footballer's drinking session.
Over the final fence, Hello Bud looked to have sealed the win as Out The Black fiddled it and Chiaro in third looked done, but McCoy was throwing everything at the Jeremy Scott-trained Gone To Lunch who must have made up 30 lengths in the final three furlongs. Try as he might, McCoy's efforts were not enough. Brennan had timed everything absolutely right, all the way to the end of the four miles.
Out The Black took third, also at 12-1, while 10-1 chance Chiaro kept fourth ahead of the plugging-on Chief Dan George. Nine De Sivola was pulled up, the ground being too fast for him.
Not surprisingly, the winning trainer's thoughts turned to repeating his feat of training Earth Summit to lift the Aintree Grand National a year after he won the Scottish.
"We will look at the Becher Chaser and we have got to think about the English Grand National," said Twiston-Davies.
Owner Sean Murphy from Dublin quipped: "That's us the King of Scotland so now we want to be King of England."
Paddy Brennan was adamant: "There is even more improvement in him and he could be the perfect National horse."
In the race after the National, the impact-test.co.uk Handicap hurdle, McCoy showed just why he is the greatest jumps jockey of all time. He made all on his mount The Polomoche until inside the final furlong of the 2m 5f race, where Halla San's jockey Brian Hughes took Richard Fahey's seven-year-old into the lead. But McCoy somehow conjured another run from the top weight, and got up again inside the last few yards for a thrilling victory on the Nicky Henderson-trained 15-2 shot.
You just cannot keep the champion down, while trainer Henderson's fabulous season continued in the following Albert Bartlett and Sons Handicap Chase, won by a fast diminishing length by 9-4 favourite Pepsyrock under Barry Geraghty, the pair holding on from Graham Lee on board Beggar's Cap.
The race before the National, the £80,000 Samsung Electronics Scottish Champion Hurdle, went to Noble Alan from Nicky Richards' yard, ridden by Davy Condon, and priced at 17-2, the same odds at which Aurora's Encore, ridden by Tjade Collier, won the Dawn Group Novices Steeplechase.
Fans of Deep Purple (15-8) would have appreciated their equine namesake's all-the-way victory in the Homecoming Future Champion Novices' Chase.
The opening race of the day, the Purvis Marquees Juvenile Novices' Hurdle, was a sickener for punters with the outsider of the four strong field, Apartman ridden by Jan Faltejsek, racing away from the other three to win at the odds of 25-1. The last was even worse for those seeking some late cash redemption, Carter's Rest winning the Ashleybank Investments bumper at 50-1 under Harry Haynes, ending a good 'National' month for the bookies.
