Barry Geraghty’s William Hill blog: My Way ready to Rock in Scottish National

William Hill ambassador Barry Geraghty looks over the best of Saturday’s card from Ayr, including the Scottish Grand National.

Trainers’ title race

The Grand National was unbelievable. There’s no wonder Willie [Mullins] has reached the level of success across the board that he has when you see a training performance like that. He had the first five jumping the last in the National – that’s crazy!

Willie is a cool customer, but you saw what it meant to him for Patrick to win the race and to have such a brilliant result, even he was lost for words.

You have to feel for Dan Skelton because even Willie winning the National wasn’t enough to close the gap, but having four of the first five home meant he collected nearly £900,000 of the million on offer. Dan has had a brilliant season and has really improved year-on-year, so you have to feel for him, but you also have to recognise the brilliance of Willie. It’s not over yet, though. Willie has the numbers but it still has to happen on the track too.

Ayr, Saturday

I do like Willie’s runner, WESTERN DIEGO, in the opener (1:10pm). He has improved with each of his runs over fences – he struggled on his first couple of starts but was a good second last time over two miles. He looked to jump fractionally left then, so I think going left-handed around Ayr will suit him. This is his handicap debut, after only three starts over fences, so there should be more to come.

EYED was the one I liked the look of in the Novices’ Champion Handicap Chase (1:43pm). He was second last time out and prior to that was a winner at Kempton beating Ideal Des Bordes, who reopposes here. That’s a good level of form and he’s been very consistent since joining Hughie Morrison this season, winning three times and finishing second twice from six starts. He’s in really good form and the ground should be ideal for him.

In the Scottish Champion Hurdle (2:15pm), KABRAL DU MATHAN might be the one to beat. He ran a great race at Ascot over Christmas when only going down by a short-head on his handicap debut and then ran well again to be second to Secret Squirrel at Windsor last time out. That was on soft ground and it looked to me as though it came soon enough after Ascot as he didn’t travel with the same ease as he had done there. He’s a big, tall horse and one that can be expected to improve plenty. Having won at Kempton earlier in the season, a fast track like Ayr should be ideal for him.

ROCKOLA VOGUE brings good recent form into the mares’ handicap hurdle (2:55pm). She won over two-and-a-half miles at Musselburgh last time and her pedigree would suggest that stepping up further in trip will only bring about improvement. This is a big step up in trip, but she’s only a six-year-old, she’s very consistent having not finished out of the frame in eight starts, and should have more to come.

The Scottish Grand National (3:35pm) looks an open and tricky race. Willie runs six, and favourite Chosen Witness has been well backed but looks short enough in the betting. The one I came down on was ROCK MY WAY. He was a good second in the National Hunt Novices’ Chase at the Festival on only his second start for Joe Tizzard, and before that he also filled the runner-up spot at Doncaster. It might be that his jumping let him down a tiny bit at Cheltenham, but jumping around Ayr would be a much more straightforward task, so I’d like to think that he could find a better rhythm here. He’s got a nice racing weight and looks to offer a bit of each-way value.