WHAT are the odds of Willie Mullins retaining his British trainers’ championship, now that he trails Dan Skelton by so little? The Co Carlow-based Mullins put himself within shouting distance of doing so with a rewarding raid on Ayr last Saturday, and the highlight was provided by Captain Cody’s win in the day’s feature, the Grade 3 Scottish Grand National. It comes quick on the heels of Nick Rockett’s win for breeder Kieran D Cotter at Aintree.

Another Waterford-based breeder Richard Morrissey spent €3,000 on a filly foal by Cloudings (Sadler’s Wells) at Tattersalls Ireland in 2006. While her pedigree was a little light close up, her third dam bred the three-time Grade 1 Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Badsworth Boy (Will Hays). Morrissey’s investment paid dividends when the filly, named Fromthecloudsabove, went on to win a point-to-point at the age of five, add another the following year, and then went to Wexford and won a hurdle race at the age of seven.