HISTORY was made at a sun-soaked Ayr racecourse as Sam Twiston-Davies delivered back-to-back wins in the Coral Scottish Grand National on board the joint-favourite Vicente.

A capacity crowd of some 17,000 revellers were not only treated to an action packed day of high-class national hunt racing, but also to a rousing rendition of Caledonia by former X-Factor contestant Emily Middlemas to opening the day's proceedings.

With hardly a cloud in sight, the sun in the sky and a welcomed cooling Ayrshire breeze, the champagne bars and hospitality tents were soon heaving as another special day unfolded at the popular Scottish course.

The highlight story on the track was once again provided by champion trainer Paul Nicholls, who won the main prize for the second year running and the horse became the first to successfully defend the title since Androma in 1984 and 1985.

Vicente was roared on to victory by the packed grandstands and he was certainly a popular winner as he struck right on the line to become the first favourite to win the race since Paris Pike back in 2000.

The horse was always travelling well throughout and stayed on well late on to collar the Nigel Twiston-Davies trained Cogry as his son Sam nicked the spoils right on the line with the 9-1 joint favourite Vicente. The wait went on, however, for a Scottish winner of the race as the Sandy Thomson trained Seldom Inn, the only home representative in the field, was pulled up before the conclusion.

It was, however, an emotional first win in the race for winning owner Trevor Hemmings, who bought the horse after the tragic death of his Grand National winner Many Clouds earlier in the season, and he joked in the winning enclosure that he now has his sights set on winning the Welsh and Irish Nationals to complete the set. "It was very fitting for him to come here and win this one for me, in view of the fact I had to replace the lovely Many Clouds. He was the horse I managed to get and he has done me proud. This means I have won the Aintree national and now the Scottish, so maybe we will have to target the Welsh and Irish next."

Champion trainer Paul Nicholls, who made the trip up from his Somerset base, was beaming with pride in the winner's enclosure as he heaped praise on Jockey Sam Twiston-Davies for the fantastic ride he gave the horse and he reckons Vicente's fall at the first fence in the Aintree Grand National was actually a blessing in disguise. "I knew he was fresh. Sam gave him a great ride and just took his time then he dug in deep near the finish to win so it was brilliant. He was always travelling very well and I knew with a circuit to go he had a great chance.

"In a lot of ways the fall at the first at Aintree was the best thing that happened as it meant he didn't have a hard race and came in here fresh.

"It is great for Trevor, who bought him to run him in the national, that didn't work out, but it is great for the whole team that he could come here and deliver again. It is a really great race to win and we love to come to Ayr.

Nicholls is all too aware that he still has a mountain to climb if he is to retain his trainer's championship this season, but this victory and prizemoney of £122,442 has narrowed the gap on the current leader Nicky Henderson to just under the £200,000 mark and said that has given his yard hope going into the final few weeks of the campaign. "I've got loads left to run, we've got loads heading to Sandown. It's going to be very, very hard, but we'll certainly give it a go, we always do. The chase next week is a big pot and we have got two or three to run in that. Southfield Theatre has been laid out for that and Just A Par is going to run, and we have Modus for a hurdle race."

Elsewhere on the card, it might have been an even better day for Nicholls team in the Scottish Champion hurdle. It was just as thrilling a finish as the main event as the Seamus Mullins trained Chesterfield got up in the shadows of the post to just deny Zubayr to prevent the trainer from adding a valuable double on the day.