Scottish Grand National-winning trainer Willie Mullins instructed jockey Harry Cobden to put on his best female voice ahead of Saturday's triumph at Ayr. Cobden won the historic race aboard Captain Cody - a horse which, as Mullins pointed out, has enjoyed greater recent success under female jockeys than with male riders.

Cobden successfully bucked that trend with a superbly-timed surge to the finish line which edged out another Mullins horse, Klarc Kent, as well as Our Power, Grozni and Rock My Way. The news was not totally positive for the Mullins camp as last year's Scottish Grand National winner, Macdermott, died after being pulled up midway through the race.

Reflecting on the advice he gave to Cobden before the Scottish showdown got going, Mullins told : "I gave him one instruction: I said this horse only wins for women.

"Jody Townend, he wins for her, and when Paul [Townend] gets onboard he doesn't particularly run well for him. So I said to Harry, I said 'put on your best lady's voice!' Harry gave it a very cool ride."

Mullins was classically matter-of-fact when asked why he gave Cobden the task of riding Captain Cody. "Well, he was the last one left on the list," he explained.

"We looked at all our jockeys and I had two spare rides left, I thought Jonny [Burke] could do the 10 stone easier than Harry, so I put him on Klarc Kent."

It's been a fairytale couple of weeks for the Mullins family, as master trainer Willie watched his son Patrick ride Grand National winner Nick Rockett to victory at Aintree. He had no such luck aboard Olympic Man on Saturday, but Mullins was still more than pleased with how the horses that earned him a one-two ran.

"The two horses ran unbelievable races," he said. "They're two very good jumpers, very good stayers. There are very few races over these distances so they don't get much time to show off how good they are."

Contrary to Mullins' joke about putting on a girly voice, Cobden insists he was practically left to his own devices in a move which paid dividends, as he came from a long way back to take the victory. He said: "To ride for a trainer like him is unbelievable. He didn't give me any instructions."