Ayr ground may be watered ahead of Scottish Grand National

Race officials are likely to water Ayr Racecourse ahead of this weekend’s Scottish Grand National.

The decision comes after a dry spell at the racecourse, and following a brutal Irish Grand National that saw two entries killed on the fast ground of Fairyhouse.

“The going is currently good. We had a dry weekend and the rain we were expecting on Tuesday is now going to amount to about three millimetres at the most,” said course clerk Katherine Self.

“We’ll look at the forecast on Wednesday and make a decision regarding watering. There is good grass cover as we are about a month ahead of where we normally are with the track because of the dry warmer weather we’ve been having recently.”

Notre Pere, who was wisely defected from the Irish National by trainer Jim Dreaper, heads the weight tables for the Scottish Grand National.

Chief Dan George heads the Scottish Grand National betting markets, and is receiving strong backing based on two recent wins at Catterick and Kelso.

Welsh National winner Mike de Beauchene is joined in the field by this year’s Midlands National winner, Russian Trigger.