Scottish Grand National Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends

2025 Scottish Grand National Preview

First run in 1858, the Scottish Grand National moved to its current home of Ayr in 1966. The race carries the same Class 1 Premier Handicap status as the Aintree Grand National and the runners (aged 5 years and upwards) tackle 27 standard national hunt chase obstacles over a distance around 25 yards short of 4 miles.

Usually staged a couple of weeks later than Aintree depending on the Easter calendar. The only horse to win both races in the same year was the great Red Rum back in 1974, Music Hall was the first horse to win both in 1922 and the most recent dual winner Earth Summit in 1994 is the only horse to have won the Scottish Grand National, Welsh Grand National and English Grand National.

Scottish Grand National Information:

• Scottish Grand National Past Winners
• Scottish Grand National Trainer Statistics
• Scottish Grand National Jockey Statistics

To see which runners the OLBG racing tipsters are tipping throughout the card that includes this race, head over to the Ayr tips on the day of the race, do they agree with the runners on the trend shortlist or are they predicting other runners? You may also be interested in other preview blogs that we have packed full of information, head down to the Other Principal Races at Ayr Racecourse section for links to these.

How competitive is the Scottish Grand National market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2007 when the race had an over-round of 125%. The race in 2018 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 145%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the Scottish Grand National, the over-round has been 134%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £134 which is bet.

Scottish Grand National Trends:

• 2025 Scottish Grand National Trends
• Scottish Grand National Trend Analysis

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? From the past 20 if you had followed the winner of the Scottish Grand National next time out then you would have backed a total of 3 winners. Backing all 18 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -1.25. Before placing your bet on the 2025 Scottish Grand National see which other runners today are being backed on the racing predictions page.

The runner that holds the record over the past 20 renewals for the slowest time in the race was set in the 2014 renewal when Al Co from Peter Bowen under the guidance of Jamie Moore, won in a time of 8:35.70, whilst at the other end of the spectrum, Hot Weld, trained by Ferdy Murphy and ridden by P J McDonald set the quickest time of 7:55.10 in the 2007 renewal.

These are the top three quickest-run Scottish Grand National over the last 20 renewals:

1. Hot Weld (7:55.10) in 2007
2. Joe Farrell (8:00.50) in 2018
3. Takingrisks (8:02.40) in 2019

Scottish Grand National Past Winners

Here are the Scottish Grand National past winners for the last 10 renewals. Each row details the year of the race, the horse which won along with the age & weight of the horse. The trainer of the horse at the time of winning the Scottish Grand National as well as the jockey is also displayed along with the starting price the horse was sent off.

Race Notes: The 2020 running was cancelled because of the pandemic in the United Kingdom.

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the Scottish Grand National have been based:

• GB: 17 winners with an additional 55 placings from 453 runners
• FR: 2 winners with an additional 1 placing from 10 runners
• IRE: 1 winner with an additional 4 placings from 42 runners

Scottish Grand National Trainer Statistics

There are two leading trainers in the Scottish Grand National over the last 20 renewals with both Paul Nicholls and Christian Williams who have both won the race two times. Paul Nicholls winners have been with Vicente (2016 & 2017). Christian Williams winners have been with Win My Wings (2022) and Kittys Light (2023). Multiple trainers have not had the best of times over the last 20 renewals in the Scottish Grand National, Sue Smith (0-25), David Pipe (0-18), Nicky Henderson (0-14), Venetia Williams (0-13), Philip Hobbs (0-13) and Jonjo O'Neill (0-10) have all failed to produce a single winner despite sending multiple runners to the race.

Here are some of the top Scottish Grand National trainer statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

Scottish Grand National Jockey Statistics

The leading jockey in the Scottish Grand National over the last 20 renewals is Sam Twiston-Davies who has won the race two times with those two winners coming from Vicente (2016 & 2017).

Here are some of the top Scottish Grand National jockey statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

Scottish Grand National Trend Analysis

The trend factor which had produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +103.00 is when runners had 1 win in the past 90 days. The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners ran on Heavy ground on debut, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-67.

The courses that have produced the most winners of the Scottish Grand National are Doncaster and Cheltenham, there has been a total number of 3 winners from each of those courses.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 19 winners from a total of 498 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 1 winner from a total of 7 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, these are the stallions whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Scottish Grand National:

• Dom Alco (3 Wins)
• Pistolet Bleu (2 Wins)

These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the Scottish Grand National despite multiple attempts:

• Milan (0 Wins from 12 runners)
• Kings Theatre (0 Wins from 11 runners)
• Roselier (0 Wins from 11 runners)
• Brian Boru (0 Wins from 10 runners)
• Old Vic (0 Wins from 8 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Iris De Balme in 2008, winning for Sean Curran at odds of 66/1 under the guidance of Charlie Huxley. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there have been 3 winning favourites in the race. Remember to use the best racing tipsters along with the information on this page to find you a bet on the 2025 Scottish Grand National.

Other Principal races at Ayr racecourse

Here are some other notable races at the Ayr racecourse throughout the racing season that you may be interested in.

Races in April

• Scottish Champion Hurdle

Races in September

• Ayr Bronze Cup
• Ayr Gold Cup
• Ayr Silver Cup

Scottish Grand National 2024 Runners

The first declarations will consist of a large field, trainers will pull out runners for various reasons and then there will be five-day declarations which will narrow the field down drastically before the final declarations which will be on the Thursday before the race, there is a maximum number of thirty horse allowed in the Scottish Grand National.

• Five-Day Declarations (14th April)
• Final Declarations (17th April)
• The Race (19th April)

Scottish National Tips

There are several ways of narrowing down the field to find yourself a Scottish National tip and the most popular are by using the trends, these look back at previous renewals to find trends, a full list of which you can find above.

You don't want a runner who was unfancied too badly last time it ran, runners who came into the Scottish National having been sent off bigger than 18/1 in their last race have not produced a winner from a total of 138 runners!

In this type of race, you certainly do not want a horse who has been over-run but at the same time you need one who has seen a racecourse, those who have 3-7 starts in the past year are the ones to focus on, those outside of those numbers are 0-104.

1. Use Trends to narrow down the field
2. Read the Comments from the best horse racing tipsters
3. View the most popular Scottish National tips

Ideally, you want a reliable runner too, over the last twenty renewals, 156 runners came into the race having recorded at least one fall that season, the only two of those to win were Vicente in 2017 and Macdermott in 2024.

In such a demanding race, the weight a horse has to carry too can be a factor, Grey Abbey in 2004 was the last successful runner to win carrying top weight. Fourteen of the last twenty winners carried 14lbs+ less than the top weighted horse and eleven of those carried 20lbs+ less than the top weight.