Paul Nicholls shares his thoughts on his ten runners at Ayr on Saturday – as leading jump jockey Harry Cobden rides young chasing star Stay Away Fay in the Scottish Grand National

Trainer Paul Nicholls has 10 runners at Ayr on Saturday, including two in the Scottish Grand National.

Leading show jumping jockey Harry Cobden will ride young chasing star Stay Away Fay in the feature race at 3.35pm.

here the Honestly ambassador shares his thoughts about his ten runners at Ayr on Saturday afternoon.

Ayr

13:15 – Sans Bruit

He was a little too keen on his first two starts since joining us this season but then showed a lot more over the fences at Chepstow before coming into good style at Aintree nine days ago with the help of a positive ride from Bryony Frost. Although he weighs 5kg he is strong, appears to be doing well and should be competitive again if this race does not take place soon after Aintree.

13:50 – Mofasa

New to us this season, he won cleanly on his second start over fences at Huntingdon, but next time he had trouble with his breathing so we gave him a breather. I had had this race in mind for him for some time and had to meet him first at Newbury where he was not yet fully excited. He improved a lot for that outing.

2:25 PM – Rubaud

He won this race in style last year on a handicap of 135 on good ground and has a much tougher task this time on 148. I don’t think he was right to underperform on tough ground at Wincanton last time. Rubaud seems to be in a good place at the moment, but I’d say he has what it takes to do it at top weight on a softer surface than he prefers.

2:25 PM – Afadil

He is running at the peak of his form this spring and comes here a week after finishing third in a competitive conditional jockey handicap at Aintree, despite losing ground after a standing start. With Freddie Gingell claiming a handy 5lb, Afadil is a wonderfully light weight at just 10st 3lb and has a sporting chance.

3:00 PM – Larchmont Lass

She is useful and ran very well last time when she held on to fourth place in the valuable EBF Mares final at Newbury a month ago. She’s clamoring for this step up to three miles and has solid claims with just 10st 4lb on her back.

Leading show jumping jockey Harry Cobden rides young chasing star Stay Away Fay in the feature race

3:35 PM – Stay away Fay

He is a class horse, but life will not be easy for him if he ends up with a top weight of twelve stone at a score of 158. It just didn’t happen for him at the Turners at Cheltenham, where he was never happy. traveling into the ground and his jumping failed him. We removed the cheek pieces he was wearing there because they didn’t seem to be working and I had a feeling for a while that he would be suitable for marathon riding. The job at Ayr should be very suitable for him.

15:35 – Broken halo

He was there with a shout when he dropped out twice at the London National at Sandown in December and more recently earned a shot at the Scottish National after bravely pushing on to win decisively over three and a half miles at Taunton last month. Now that he’s raised 5lb to a point of 135 in a much stronger race, he looks like an interesting outsider.

16:10 – Welcome to Cartries

He has made good progress this season, winning decisively at Ascot and then coming second in January after a good race in the River Don at Doncaster. That form looks solid and the ground was probably a little faster than he wanted that day. The conditions at Ayr will be more suitable for him.

16:45 – Jetronic

The switch to hurdles paid off when he won nicely from the front to move up the trip to two and a half miles at Plumpton last month. I’d like to think he could be right in the mix.

Rubaud faces a tough challenge to repeat last year’s victory in the Scottish Championship Hurdle

17:20 – Histrionic

He won a Point-to-Point in Ireland a year ago and rode with great promise on his debut for us before disappointing on tough ground at Newbury. I’m not sure of the reason, although it may be that he wants better conditions, like most of his family, and I hope it will turn out too good to soft for him. Encouragingly, Histrionic works beautifully at home.

Best chance

Afadil EW. 2:25 p.m. He runs consistently and should be back in the frame.