Coral Scottish Grand National
Ayr 15:35
Grade 3 Handicap Chase,
 £150,000 guaranteed, 5yo plus,
3m 7f 176y, Class 1   
Saturday 22nd April 2023

1 Kittys Light 4/1J
2 Coopers Cross 25/1
3 Flash De Touzaine 40/1
4 Threeunderthrufive 16/1
5 Magna Sam 14/1
18 ran NR: Elvis Mail, Famous Bridge, Flower Of Scotland, Monbeg Genius, Waitnsee
Distances: 3l, nk, 3l Time: 8m 10.29s (slow by 6.29s)

It was an emotional success at Ayr for Christian Williams and Jack Tudor with the diminuitive Kitty's Light.

There were some notable absentees from the four mile contest with the drying ground ruling out Monbeg Genius and Elvis Mail among others but a field of 18 still faced the starter after a short delay to clear protestors from the course.

All runners were in contention at the end of the first two of three circuits with Manothepeople and Lord Accord sharing pacemaking duties with Undersupervision, Ruthless Article and Threeunderthrufive in the next rank with Flash Collonges getting a clear sight of his fences on the outside.

That didn't prevent the latter coming down at the nineteenth (of 27), bringing down Dusart, with Mighty Thunder departing at the same obstacle as the field began to string out.

Turning for home with four to take Magna Sam cruised into contention, going on from Lord Accord, but he was soon challenged by Kitty's Light and Cooper's Cross. 

Kitty's Light was in front at the last and survived a blunder to go one better than last year, staying on strongly to collect by three lengths.

Cooper's Cross was second with Flash De Touzaine third and Threeunderthrufive fourth and Magna Sam, whose effort proved short-lived, coming home in fifth.

Victory was emotional as trainer Christian Williams' daughter, Betsy, has recently been diagnosed with leukemia.

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Tudor told ITV Racing: "This means an awful lot to Christian, his little girl is really unwell, and hopefully this will be a massive lift to him more than anyone. The whole family, Charlotte and the girls, it means a lot this one. I don't quite know what this will mean to Christian."

And on Kitty's Light, he said: "He's a legend. He's small, he's flat bred, he's not a brilliant jumper but he's just trained to the absolute minute."

Williams commented: "Brilliant, very important horse. 

"Big battle on at home with my daughter but great, this horse will cheer everyone up. 

"Lucky to have the staff I've got and the family as well, it's a great tonic for the children watching at home and I'm looking forward to getting back tonight and seeing them all."

Coral Scottish Grand National
 £150,000 guaranteed, 5yo plus, 3m 7f 176y, Class 1
18 ran
Going: Good, Good to Soft in places

POS. DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1    Kitty's Light 7 11-0 Christian Williams Jack Tudor 4/1J
2 3 Cooper's Cross 8 10-7 Stuart Coltherd Sam Coltherd 25/1
3 nk Flash De Touzaine 8 10-4 Liz Doyle Richard Deegan 40/1
4 3 Threeunderthrufive 8 11-7 Paul Nicholls A P Heskin 16/1
5 2½ Magna Sam 9 10-2 Alastair Ralph Alex Edwards 14/1
6 423212 Your Own Story 7 10-2 Lucinda Russell Derek Fox 4/1J
7 113222 Half Shot 9 10-2 Iain Jardine Conor O'Farrell 25/1
8 12-701 Empire Steel 9 11-5 Sandy Thomson Ryan Mania 22/1
9 31296P Lord Accord 8 10-9 Neil Mulholland Richie McLernon 25/1
10 350219 Cap Du Nord 10 10-6 Christian Williams Nick Scholfield 18/1
11 453669 Small Present 8 10-2 Sue Smith Sean Quinlan 50/1
BD Dusart 8 12-0 Nicky Henderson Nico de Boinville 18/1
FELL Flash Collonges 8 10-8 Paul Nicholls Harry Cobden 17/2
PU Ruthless Article 10 10-9 Rebecca Curtis Tom Bellamy 50/1
PU Undersupervision 7 10-10 Nigel Twiston-Davies Sam Twiston-Davies 16/1
PU Manothepeople 8 10-4 Fergal O'Brien Paddy Brennan 9/1
PU Malina Girl 6 10-11 Gavin Cromwell Sean Flanagan 8/1
UR Mighty Thunder 10 10-2 Lucinda Russell Patrick Wadge 12/1
NR 3 Monbeg Genius 7 11-5 Jonjo O'Neill NON RUNNER
NR 5 Elvis Mail 9 11-3 N W Alexander NON RUNNER
NR 16 Famous Bridge 7 10-2 Nicky Richards NON RUNNER
NR 18 Waitnsee 9 10-2 John Patrick Ryan NON RUNNER
NR 21 Flower Of Scotland 8 10-2 Sandy Thomson NON RUNNER