Two Tribes

Richard Spencer's Run Boy Run bids to make history in Ayr Gold Cup

Horse Racing

Thu September 17, 2026 · 9h ago

On Saturday, the Richard Spencer-trained and Phil Cunningham-owned Run Boy Run bids to become the first horse since Heronslea in 1931 to win the Ladbrokes Ayr Gold Cup in successive years.

The five-year-old is one of four runners in the race for Spencer and owner Cunningham’s Rebel Racing operation, with homebred Run Boy Run joining Twilight Calls, Two Tribes and Candy in the six-furlong Heritage Handicap.

Run Boy Run, ridden by last year’s race-winning jockey George Wood, is only five pounds higher than his win 12 months ago and Spencer expects the son Rajasinghe to go close again this time around after some near misses this season.

“He’s been relatively unlucky in a few runs this year and I think the ground is a big thing with him. He loves that ground up at Ayr, which is going to be soft, and he should go close.

“We’ve put some blinkers on him on Saturday which I think will help. We did it last year and we’ve waited to change it up slightly before the end of the year.”

Joining him is Two Tribes, another, like Run Boy Run, by the Coventry Stakes-winning sire Rajasinghe. He will be partnered by David Egan – the jockey who partnered him to success in last year’s Coral Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood.

Spencer said: “We'll be taking our time on him I think. I think the ground is a big thing with Two Tribes; six furlongs on soft ground is his bag. He gets seven very well and probably can get a mile but the ground will play into his strengths back at six.”

Candy won last year’s Ladbrokes Ayr Silver Cup, and the son of Ardad, ridden by Ryan Sexton, could go well at a decent price according to connections.

“Candy has been unlucky all year really,” Spencer said. “The ground's going to be in his favour this weekend as he's not had his ground all year.

“A few things haven't gone right this season; the tack went on one occasion and then he banged his head one day.”

Cunningham added: “If you look back at last year's Silver Cup, Candy carried more weight than Run Boy Run, was drawn probably on the worst side of the track and still ran a faster time.

“He's had no luck at all this season, with lots of things having gone wrong with him. If Richard's [Spencer] got that horse back in the same condition as he was this time last year, I think he could be the one.”

Finally, Twilight Calls, a winner of three of his last five races, looks set to go off the shortest price of the four contenders and Spencer feels there is more left in the tank of the eight-year-old.

“There’s more to come from him. The race on Saturday at Doncaster didn't pan out the way we'd have liked it to.

“It was on the far side and all happened away from him. He hit the front too soon, which was no fault of Saffie’s [Osborne], as he doesn't do a lot when he hits the front. The handicapper has put him up two and if he'd have won, he'd have had a six-pound penalty.

“In my eyes he's going there well-in and he should have a good chance.”

With the £1,000,000 prize-money milestone now firmly in their sights, Spencer is looking forward to finishing an already remarkable season strongly.

“It was one that I sort of had as a target in my head at the start of the year. With winners and prize money, obviously, we wanted to beat last year's tally and the million pound mark was where we wanted to be trying to get to.”

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