Deaths of Macdermott and The Kniphand overshadow Scottish Grand National

The Guardian

12-04-2025

Last year's winner, Macdermott, was one of two fatalities in the Scottish Grand National at Ayr, casting a shadow over the triumph of his stablemate Captain Cody.
Sent off at 16-1 in his bid to repeat his win of 12 months ago, the Willie Mullins-trained Macdermott was once again ridden by Danny Mullins, but was pulled up sharply before the 10th fence. In what was an incident-packed race with only eight finishers from 23 runners, Nigel Twiston‑Davies's The Kniphand fell at the second-last and like Macdermott suffered a fatal injury.
While all the jockeys in the four‑mile marathon were essentially unscathed, Harry Atkins, the rider of Snipe who came down at the seventh, was stood down having been knocked unconscious.
The clerk of the course, Graeme Anderson, said: 'All the jockeys are OK. Harry Atkins was stood down because he was knocked out but everybody else is up and OK. Unfortunately there were two equine fatalities, The Kniphand and Macdermott.'
The winner benefited from an ultra-patient ride by Harry Cobden to lead home a one-two for the stable. For much of the straight it appeared as if his stablemate Klarc Kent who would be the one to provide Mullins – who had the first three in last weekend's Grand National at Aintree – with back-to-back successes in the marathon chase, but Cobden was smuggling his mount into the race.
On just his second ride for the champion trainer, Cobden exuded confidence and despite getting close to the last, the seven-year-old Captain Cody (9-1) quickened smartly to win cosily at the line. Our Power was third.
By saddling the first two, Mullins was taking a giant stride towards retaining his British trainers' championship. In what proved an action-packed affair, Mullins' title rival Dan Skelton saw his two runners inadvertently taken out in the early stages. Sail Away was brought down at the first by last year's runner-up Surrey Quest, while Snipe was also brought down just a couple of fences later.