THE National Hunt season rolls to a close in the coming week, with the annual extravaganza that is Punchestown. Last week the main action over jumps was in Scotland, at Ayr to be precise, and the feature was the Grade 3 Coral Scottish Grand National.

The race was robbed of some of its attraction with the late withdrawal of five runners due to the changed ground, and while there were no fallers, only six of the 16 that went to post completed the course, all of the remainder pulling up. The race produced an exciting finish with just a length and a half separating the first three over the line, and the first four home were bred in France.