Leading Irish jumps trainer Willie Mullins has a particularly strong hand ahead of this year’s John Smith’s Grand National at Aintree on April, his The Midnight Club heading the horse racing betting at a best price 10/1 at present. Scotsirish is another Mullins horse with good prospects at Aintree, even though a couple of firms go as big as 100/1 about his chance of winning the ‘world’s greatest steeplechase’, writes Elliot Slater.
 
A classy performer at distances between two and three miles, the apparent generosity of the bookmaking fraternity in offering up to triple-figure odds about the 10-year-old seems to rest solely on their belief that he won’t stay the marathon trip. At first glance when you see that he failed by less than three-lengths to beat former champion chaser Big Zeb in a Grade 1 event at Leopardstown’s Christmas meeting over just two miles, you could be forgiven for thinking that he is an unlikely stayer.
 
Dig a little deeper into the form book though and you will see that the Zaffaran gelding ran a good third to Notre Pere over three-miles-one furlong in the Grade 1 Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup less than two years ago, and was staying-on well (giving 26lbs to the winner Always Waining) when runner-up in the Topham Trophy at Aintree over the Grand National fences only 12 months ago, over two-and-three-quarter-miles.
 
Mullins, who won the race in 2005 with Hedgehunter and sent out the same horse to be a fine second a year later, knows exactly what is required to win the Grand National, so his decision to let Scotsirish take his chance must be respected. Over the years a significant number of horses who specialised at two-and-a-half-miles have run very well in the Aintree marathon and it would come as no surprise to see the classy Scotsirish do just that on the big day.