A MONTH TO FORGET!

Ben Morgan started well with the Scottish National winner - but things soon went downhill

ASI re-read my notes before starting this I can quite honestly say this month has aged me.

It started at Cheltenham's April meeting where a couple of the handicaps looked open events and I was keen to chance a few at a price.

Supreme Gift (£10 e/w at 12/1) looked overpriced in the handicap hurdle over 2m 4f as Henry Daly thinks he's a nice horse.

As they bounded up the straight it was clear they all had a chance and they ended up finishing in a heap with my selection a very close fourth.

Loyal readers know I rate Herbiers for Oliver Greenall quite highly and I was surprised he was such a big price (£15 e/w at 17/2) for a relatively weak handicap chase. He too turned into the straight with an obvious chance but found little approaching the last and finished fourth.

The mares didn't treat me much better the following day as Merry Poppins (£5 e/w at 33/1) got touched off by last season's cliff horse Malaita and Noel Williams smart bumper mare Mighty Moth could only finish second despite being backed 22/1 into 10/3.

It was shaping up to be one of those nearly weeks and come mid-Saturday afternoon I was just about resigned to that outcome.

Anna Bunina (£20 e/w at 8/1) ran a big race in the Scottish Champion Hurdle as expected but couldn't reel in the well handicapped Rubaud.

Revich (£10 e/w at 16/1) ran a brave race at Newbury but again could only muster third.

By the time the Scottish National came around my selection Kitty’s Light (£20 e/w at 6/1) had been cut into favoritism due to the withdrawal of another fancied horse. The 40p rule 4 hit my potential winnings hard and after the way the week had gone I was expecting a disappointing result. However, Christian Williams' tough, classy, incredibly well handicapped horse dug deep and showed all of his class to power up the straight to provide his trainer with a second Scottish National in two years.