Merigo ended a 28-year barren streak for locally-trained runners as he ran away with the Coral Scottish Grand National at Ayr.
Ken Oliver's Cockle Strand was the last Scottish-trained horse to bag the country's premier jumps prize in 1982, but Merigo righted that statistic with a superb staying performance.
Trained at Lockerbie by Andrew Parker, Merigo was sent off an 18-1 shot for the four-mile marathon and the result barely looked in doubt after Timmy Murphy kicked on after the fourth-last fence to beat last year's runner-up Gone To Lunch by nine lengths.
Owner Ray Green, who is also Murphy's father-in-law, said: "It's fantastic to win Scotland's greatest chase and it ranks alongside Sparky Gale winning for me at the Cheltenham Festival.
"It was so frustrating last year when we took him out of the race because the ground was a bit too quick. Everything hasn't gone to plan - we intended to run him in the Welsh National but we were snowed in, and he was favourite for the Eider only for the meeting to be abandoned.
"The other idea had been to run him in the John Smith's Grand National at Aintree, but he needed another win to get in the handicap and we couldn't find a race for him. The plan now is to get him in the Aintree race next year."
Parker admitted: "We have had a frustrating winter not being able to run the horse in the Welsh National or the Eider, but he has been in great form all through and we just wanted to get him on the course.
"Ray has always been a great supporter of the stable and I couldn't be any more pleased for him."
Murphy was thrilled to complete the family success, adding: "He jumped and travelled well and it is great for Andrew and particularly for Ray and Anita to have won this race. They are true patriotic Scots and it is great for them to win the country's biggest chase."
Despite having to settle for second again, Jeremy Scott was delighted and said: "We may be banging our head against a brick wall but we will come back again and hopefully one day he will win."
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