The Grand National is, nowadays, run over an extended four and a quarter miles at Aintree in early April, while the Scottish Grand National is run over four miles at Ayr, typically two or three weeks later. The proximity of the two races means that recovery between them is the biggest of big asks for most steeplechasers, such that just one horse has ever won both the Grand National and the Scottish Grand National in the same season.
That one horse was the legendary Red Rum, who beat L’Escargot by seven lengths at Aintree in 1974 – thereby becoming the first horse since Reynoldstown, in 1936, to win back-to-back renewals – and, three weeks later, carrying a 6lb penalty, beat Proud Tarquin by four lengths at Ayr. Other Grand National winners to have tried, and failed, to repeat the feat include Auroras Encore who, in 2013, belied odds of 66/1 to win at Aintree, but found the combination of an 11lb rise in the weights and a two-week turnaround beyond him when pulled up at Ayr.
Several horses have won the Grand National and the Scottish Grand National, but not in the same season. The first to do so was Music Hall, who won the Scottish Grand National at its previous venue, Bogside, near Irvine, in 1920 before winning an eventful renewal of the Grand National in 1922. More recently, Little Polveir won the Scottish Grand National at Ayr in 1987 and the Grand National, as a 12-year-old, in 1989, having unseated rider in both 1987 and 1988. Likewise, Earth Summit won the Scottish Grand National in 1994, the Welsh Grand National in 1997 and the Grand National proper in 1998, making him the only horse ever to win all three races.