Highland National Preview, Tips, Runners & Trends

2025 Highland National Preview

Scheduled to take place in late April of each year at the Perth racecourse is the Highland National, a race that is open to runners aged five or older and which is run over a marathon trip of three miles, six and a half furlongs during which the runners will face twenty-three fences.

The race is a Class 3 handicap chase in which the runners compete for the Julian Llewellen Palmer Memorial Trophy and is run on the final day of the three-day Perth racing festival.

Highland National Information:

• Highland National Past Winners
• Highland National Trainer Statistics
• Highland National Jockey Statistics

If you are interested in other predictions at Perth then head over to the Perth tips page to see which runners are being supported by the OLBG racing tipsters and also compare those predictions to the runners that make the trend shortlist when added below.

How competitive is the Highland National market? When looking at the over-rounds for the last 20 renewals, the most competitive market was in 2024 when the race had an over-round of 115%. The race in 2008 was a race that was most in the bookie's favour with an over-round of 134%, whilst on average over the last 20 renewals of the Highland National, the over-round has been 121%, which means the bookie expects to pay out £100 for every £121 which is bet.

Highland National Trends:

• 2025 Highland National Trends
• Highland National Trend Analysis

Looking at the future form, is the winner worth following next time out? From the past 20 if you had followed the winner of the Highland National next time out then you would have backed a total of 3 winners. Backing all 16 runners who have been out since to win at SP next time out, would have returned an LSP of -2.37. Ahead of the 2025 Highland National why not head over to the racing predictions for tips on other races today?

When looking over the past 20 renewals, a time of 7:43.70 was set by Laertes in 2009, which is the quickest time over that period, the runner was trained by Chris Grant and ridden by Mr O Greenall. The slowest winning time was set in 2010 when Omix DOr won in a time of 8:35.90, booked to ride was David Dennis by the trainer James Evans.

These are the top three quickest-run Highland National over the last 20 renewals:

1. Laertes (7:43.70) in 2009
2. Cyclop (7:47.84) in 2021
3. Double Whammy (7:49.20) in 2016

Highland National Past Winners

Here are the Highland National past winners for the last 10 renewals. Each row details the year of the race, the horse which won along with the age & weight of the horse. The trainer of the horse at the time of winning the Highland National as well as the jockey is also displayed along with the starting price the horse was sent off.

Where have the winning runners come from?

Here are the countries where the winning trainers of the Highland National have been based:

• GB: 20 winners with an additional 37 placings from 244 runners
• IRE: 0 winners with an additional 7 placings from 19 runners
• FR: 0 winners with an additional 0 placings from 6 runners

Highland National Trainer Statistics

There are two leading trainers in the Highland National over the last 20 renewals with both Nigel Twiston-Davies and Chris Grant who have both won the race two times. Nigel Twiston-Davies winners have been with Petite Margot (2011) and Bally Braes (2015). Chris Grant winners have been with Laertes (2008 & 2009). Two trainers have not had the best of times over the last 20 renewals in the Highland National, Lucinda Russell has sent a total of 15 runners to the race without recording any wins whilst Sandy Thomson has sent out 10 without a winner.

Here are some of the top Highland National trainer statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

Highland National Jockey Statistics

The leading jockey in the Highland National over the last 20 renewals is Sam Twiston-Davies who has won the race three times with those three winners coming from Petite Margot (2011), Bally Braes (2015) and Bretney (2024).

Here are some of the top Highland National jockey statistics over the last 20 renewals (R = Runners, W = Winners, P = Places including winners, Win LSP is based on 1pt Win and EW LSP is based on 0.5pt Win & 0.5pt Place):

Highland National Trend Analysis

The trend factor which had produced 10+ winners and shows the best LSP, an LSP of +43.00 is when runners had recorded 0 career falls. The worst performing factor that has failed to produce a single winner is when runners were Chestnut in colour, when backing these the trend shows a record of 0-44.

The course which has produced the most winners of the Highland National is Carlisle, there has been a total number of 3 winners of this race who ran at Carlisle last time out.

The race is open to both sexes with the Male runners having produced a total of 19 winners from a total of 247 runners whilst the Female runners have produced 1 winner from a total of 22 runners.

Looking over the past renewals, these are the stallions whose offspring have produced multiple winners of the Highland National:

• Milan (2 Wins)
• Theatrical Charmer (2 Wins)

These are the stallions whose offspring have not produced a winner of the Highland National despite multiple attempts:

• Roselier (0 Wins from 8 runners)
• Flemensfirth (0 Wins from 7 runners)
• Presenting (0 Wins from 7 runners)
• Sir Harry Lewis (0 Wins from 5 runners)
• Supreme Leader (0 Wins from 5 runners)

Looking at the winning odds over the last 20 renewals, the biggest-priced winner was Cerium in 2012, winning for Neil King at odds of 33/1 under the guidance of Trevor Whelan. Looking at the runners at the head of the market over the last 20 renewals there have been 0 winning favourites in the race. Remember to use the best racing tipsters along with the information on this page to find you a bet on the 2025 Highland National. If you are interested in other races at the Perth racecourse, then why not read our blog for the Gold Castle Novices Hurdle?