CHRISTIAN WILLIAMS sent out the first two home in the Coral Scottish Grand National with Win My Wings taking the big Ayr prize ahead of Kitty’s Light.
Draped in the Welsh flag and clutching the winners’ trophy, Williams said: “We came with two horses we thought could win the race. I feel sorry for Kitty’s Light but nothing would have beaten Win My Wings today, that’s how it looked to me. It was some performance.”
To lessen Win My Wings’ big weight, Williams booked crack Irish amateur Rob James, successful in 250 point-to-points, as he was entitled to claim 7lb. But the style of the mare’s victory suggested she could have won with a much heavier jockey on her back. Kitty’s Light, not much bigger than a pony, ran her heart out for Jack Tudor.
Alan King was responsible for the third home, Major Dundee, and the fourth Fidux. The well-backed Stormy Judge, he never jumped with any fluency and was pulled up before the fourth last. Williams is now a trainer going places that can exchange blows with the very best in the game.
Asked for the secret to his success, which now includes victories in the Welsh Grand National (Potters Corner in 2019), and the Eider Chase (Win My Wings 2022), he pointed out that his horses thrive from the training on the sand dunes at his Ogmore-by-Sea stables in Glamorgan.
Ireland might have come up short in the big one but they did not go home empty-handed as Anna Bunina bettered her second in last year’s Scottish Champion Hurdle when taking this season’s prize.
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