By 5.25pm on Saturday - all being well - the self-proclaimed “two golf widows” should be very merry ones as well.

Belinda McClung and Deborah ‘Debs’ Thomson bought a racehorse three years ago to give themselves something to do at weekends while their partners were off playing golf.

They purchased One For Arthur for a relatively modest - in horse racing terms at least - £60,000 and registered their ownership as Two Golf Widows.

On Saturday, One For Arthur - who they describe as a ‘great big softie’ - will set off in the Grand National at Aintree as one of the favourites.

If the eight-year-old wins, it will represent a victory for ‘golf widows’ everywhere.

For Belinda and Debs, they will also be £600,000 richer - the prize money for winning the world’s most famous steeplechase.

“Getting the horse was all a bit of a tongue in cheek,” said Mrs McClung, 45, from Ancrum in the Scottish Borders, “My husband and Deb’s partner are always out on the golf course together, so we thought we’d get a horse. There’s quite a bit of banter between us all about it.”