Top trainer Russell could skip Scottish National altogether

Leading northern trainer Lucinda Russell is unlikely to have a runner in Saturday's Coral Scottish Grand National after she decided that her Cheltenham Festival winner Corach Rambler will be directed elsewhere.

Kinross-based Russell won the race last year when mighty thunder prevailed at Ayr, with four of her horses finishing in the top five. She was expected to run Corach Rambler who won the Ultima Handicap Chase at Cheltenham with a come-from-behind performance - in one of the showpiece events of the jumps racing calendar.

Corach Rambler was a 10-1 shot for the Scottish National, but has instead been earmarked for a date at Sandown at the end of April. Russell explained: "Corach Rambler will probably go for the bet365 Gold Cup. The Scottish National is a bit close to Cheltenham."

The trainer does hold two other entries for the £150,000-valued race. However, Mighty Thunder is expected to run at the Randox Grand National at Aintree and Big River was in action at Kelso over the weekend, making his chances of competing unlikely.

Ayr clerk of the course Graeme Anderson has reported that the ground was good to soft over the weekend and that he hopes to keep conditions much the same for the two-day meeting, which begins on Friday.

"We had ten dry days before we started watering last Thursday," he said. "We dumped on two circuits of 8mm and we got it to good to soft. Now we're just trying to keep it there.

"There's the chance of some showers on Wednesday but I don't think that will be anything significant so we'll just play it by ear.

"We'd like to start the first day on good to soft because it needs to see us through to the Saturday. If it was good on Friday and it dries out, as it's done in the past, we wouldn't be able to put enough water on through the night to get it back and it could end up good to firm in places."