Kitty provides a ray of Light

We celebrate a poignant winner of the Scottish Grand National and Newbury’s Classic trials provide some interesting results

- MARCUS ARMYTAGE

Ayr Racecourse, Ayrshire

ON the Wednesday of Cheltenham, as most of racing was celebrating Energumene being crowned Champion Chaser for a second time, Christian Williams received some devastating news. He will remember the day for an altogether different reason; it was when his five-year-old daughter Betsy was diagnosed with leukaemia.

She spent two weeks in hospital since, with her family camping there, but if horse racing is ever able to provide a tonic for those situations, it did so on Saturday when the Williams-trained Kitty’s Light went one better than he did in 2022 and came home a poignant winner of the Coral Scottish Grand National at Ayr.