26 in line for Scottish National glory John Smith's Grand National hero Auroras Encore heads a field of 26 runners in the Coral Scottish Grand National at Ayr on Saturday. Sue Smith's 11-year-old recorded a shock 66-1 victory in the Aintree spectacular a fortnight ago and having gone up 11lb in the weights, he has to carry a huge burden of 11st 12lb this weekend. The veteran aims to become the first horse since the legendary Red Rum in 1974 to complete the rarely-attempted National double, with Aintree partner Ryan Mania returning from injury in time to take the ride. Bingley-based Smith has a second runner in the shape of Fill The Power. Ante-post favourite Rival D'Estruval is in the line-up following his fall when still in contention in the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival. Other leading contenders include Alan King's Godsmejudge, David Pipe's Midlands National winner Big Occasion, the John Wade-trained Always Right and Neptune Equester from the stable of Brian Ellison. The sole Irish-trained runner is Thomas Gibney's Lion Na Bearnai, winner of last year's Irish Grand National but not seen since being pulled up in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury at the start of December. Conditions at Ayr are described as heavy following substantial rainfall over the last 24 hours. The two-day fixture kicks off on Friday and acting clerk of the course Harriet Graham feels the ground could dry out again slightly ahead of the big day on Saturday. Graham said: "We're raceable today, but the ground is heavy. "We've had 26 millimetres of rain in the last 24 hours, but it's dry and windy here at the moment and we're only forecast another one or two millimetres, so we shouldn't have any problems. "We've saved some fresh ground for Saturday and those areas have taken the rain better than the rest of the track. "We're hoping the track could dry out before Saturday's meeting, but I think the best the chase track will be on Saturday is soft. "The hurdle track is slightly more testing and I think we'll probably be heavy in places on that track on Saturday, assuming the forecast stays as it is."
