WHILE not working in an official capacity at Ayr racecourse last Saturday, the well-known voice of British show jumping, commentator Phil Ghazala, could be heard shouting home Kap Vert, the Philip Hobbs and Johnson White-trained 20/1 winner of the Coral Scottish Grand National.

Phil is a member of If The Kap Fits, the syndicate which owns the six-year-old Kapgarde gelding who, on just his fifth start over fences, scored by one and a half-lengths in the hands of Dungarvan-born jockey Sean Houlihan. The latter had also been on board Kap Vert when he recorded his two previous chase wins at Taunton.

The 4/1 favourite in Saturday’s feature race over four miles was the Joseph O’Brien-trained Kim Roque, who finished third in the colours of Ronnie Bartlett. The latter, who owned the winner when he ran in two four-year-old point-to-points maidens in Ireland in the spring of 2024 - and also owned Mark Kyle’s 2012 London Olympic mount Coolio - had some compensation when his Gordon Elliott-trained Skerry Hill, who was previously owned by Loughanmore’s Wilson Dennison, justified favouritism in the concluding bumper.

The opening race on the card also had an eventing connection as the winner, the seven-year-old Mount Nelson gelding Moudan is trained by Ciaran Murphy, twin brother of Joseph Murphy who, at roughly the same time on Saturday, had just finished tackling the EI115 cross-country track at Tyrella on Barberstown Castle Rehy (Advanced) and DStud Flirtation (Open).