Last season’s Scottish Grand National hero Merigo has been denied his first outing since falling in the Becher Chase at Aintree in November, following the abandonment of the scheduled fixture at Ayr on Monday due to waterlogging, writes Elliot Slater.
There had been little sign that the meeting might be in doubt until heavy rain swept in to the west of Scotland during the morning, leaving the Ayr management team with little option but to abandon the fixture.
Merigo had been scheduled to take his chance over hurdles in a two-and-a-half mile contest, a race that would have brought him on physically and which wouldn’t have had any impact on his handicap mark for the Aintree spectacular, the weights for which are due to be published on February 15, although it could have had an impact on the Grand National betting.
Merigo holds an entry in the Grade 3 Totesport.com Grand National Trial at Haydock on February 19, a race that might well prove to be the next option as his performance there would have no impact on the weight allocated by the BHA handicapper four days earlier. There hasn’t been a Scottish-trained winner of the John Smith’s Grand National for 32 years since the heroics of the Maurice Barnes-ridden Rubstic in the 1979 renewal, and many observers believe that Merigo ticks most of the right boxes in the search for this year’s winner.
The 10-year-old gelding was in the process of running a very promising race on his first outing over the National fences when falling at the 11th in the Becher Chase last time out and gave connections hope that he will take to the awesome fences during the big race itself on April 9.
A 25/1 chance for trainer Andrew Parker and prominent Scottish National Hunt owner Raymond Anderson Green, Merigo is suited by most extremes of ground other than fast conditions.
