Lion returns in Scottish National Lion Na Bearnai is the sole Irish runner as he faces 25 rivals in the Coral Scottish Grand National at Ayr. Winner of last year's Irish Grand National, the 11-year-old has had an interrupted campaign and has not been seen since pulled up in the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury at the start of December. He will be giving weight to all his rivals in the marathon contest except one, with Aintree Grand National winner Auroras Encore the top-weight on 11st 12lb. Trainer Thomas Gibney, whose charge will be ridden by Robbie McNamara, said: "He's ready to go and we're hoping for the best. "It's been a difficult season for him and last Monday I didn't think we'd be going, but he scoped clean on Thursday and seems in good form, so we're happy to let him take his chance. "I'd have loved to have got a run into him before coming here, but we haven't been able to do that and we'll just have to make the best of it. "The ground doesn't matter to him."
