Saturday’s feature race is the Ayr Gold Cup, live on ITV Racing. Always a hugely competitive contest, our tipsters have had a look over the field to try and pick out a pair that represent a little bit of value.
Hey Jonsey is not the most consistent but he is capable of a huge race if putting his best foot forward. The 2020 Wokingham winner at Royal Ascot, he was sixth back at the June meeting this season.
That Wokingham win last year came from a mark of 99, racing off 98 at Ayr, it’s not hard to argue that he is a well-handicapped type. The Kevin Ryan yard are in good heart at present and have won this race three times in the last decade so is a race they target.
The pace holds up well on the straight track at Ayr when the ground is decent which has to be a big plus given that all his best performances have come when he has been at the head of affairs – Owen Goulding
Andrew Balding has a solid recent record in this race and can add to it with Fivethousandtoone. Seven runners in the last decade have produced two winners and two who have finished sixth. With six places normal here and seven on offer in places, it’s a great race to have a tilt at an outsider.
A three-year-old has won this twice in the last decade, not at the same level as forty years ago when 1980, 1981, 1982, 1987, 1990 and 1991 all saw a three-year-old victorious but notable enough. A high draw looked a negative earlier in the meeting so his low draw in six should be an advantage.
He ran well last time out at York when he was three lengths behind Great Ambassador. That rival is four pounds worse off here and Balding’s youngster has only had eight starts in his life so there should be a bit more to come from him now that he is back in better heart – Matt Newman
If you back any of our selections you can watch them live on the free Racing Post app or racingpost.com. Simply log in to one of your bookmaker accounts and click ‘Watch live’ on the racecards.