Weld out of Scottish National Hot Weld has been scratched from the Coral Scottish Grand National on April 18 after suffering a bruised heel. The 10-year-old won the Ayr marathon in 2007, but spent the best part of two years on the sidelines with a leg injury after following up in the Betfred Gold Cup a week later. After missing this season's Grand National at Aintree, trainer Ferdy Murphy had hoped to re-route his charge to the Scottish equivalent. Hot Weld, twice pulled up since his return from injury, will instead be roughed off for the campaign, with a trip to Aintree in 12 months' time now on the gelding's agenda. "He has a bruised heel - it is nothing serious like a bone or a tendon problem - but he has missed around six days of work so he is just not going to be ready," said Murphy. "It wouldn't be fair to run him, so I spoke to the owners and we decided to pull the plug for the season as there is another year in him. "He got the bruise just as we were getting him ready for Aintree and it just hasn't cleared up in time. "There is nowhere else to go with him this season because of his rating."
