Check out the view from connections ahead of Saturday's big-race action at Ayr and Newbury.
15.35 Virgin Bet Ayr Gold Cup Handicap
American Affair is bidding to back up his Portland victory and provide a tonic for trainer Jim Goldie in the Virgin Bet Ayr Gold Cup Handicap on Saturday. The four-year-old has been on the up all season and finished in the money in all seven starts over five to five and a half furlongs.
His mark has risen from 70 to a current rating of 94, with his last performance a career-best so far as he triumphed at Doncaster under Paul Mulrennan to take home the winning pot of over £50,000. That run was only last weekend and after a quick turnaround he will carry a 5lb penalty for the success, making his total allocation 9st 2lb for the 25-runner event.
Should he be successful, he will become the first Scottish-trained winner since Roman Warrior in 1975 and will complete the set of Ayr cups for Mulrennan after his prior wins in the silver and bronze races.
Goldie has two chances in the race with Jordan Electrics also set to partake, but the trainer will have to look on from home as he recovers from a hip operation.
Mulrennan said: “I’m really looking forward to riding him, he was very good in the Portland and a change of tactics seemed to suit him. He’s a sprinter on the upgrade, he’s done nothing but improve all year. It’s a race I’ve always wanted to win, it’s our Royal Ascot, the Gold Cup up here, so it’d be great to win it.
“Jim’s recovering at home so it’d be great for him, I’m not sure he’s going to make it up. Scotland haven’t had a Gold Cup winner since 1975 so it’d be brilliant to do it for him, I’ve a Bronze Cup and a Silver Cup so I’ve just the one missing. Jim’s a real character, he’s a very good trainer and we had a couple of winners on Thursday, so the horses are in form. I had a hard choice to make because I could have ridden Northern Express or Jordan Electrics, so fingers crossed.”
Mick Appleby’s Billyjoh brings with him some good form in valuable handicaps having finished second in the Buckingham Palace at Royal Ascot and third in the Stewards’ Cup at Goodwood. He will be ridden by Alistair Rawlinson from stall 18 for his 15th start of a busy and profitable season.
“The track and trip should suit him and the ground will be all right for him. Obviously it’s a tough race, the Ayr Gold Cup, but he’s going there in good order and hopefully should have a decent chance,” said Appleby.
“He seems to like the bigger fields, the draw shouldn’t be a problem and there’s a bit of pace around him which will suit.”
Kevin Ryan has four horses set to line up, with Aleezdancer carrying the silks of co-owner Jack Berry for his third tilt at the race. The five-year-old would prefer a soft surface and appreciate any rain if it were to materialise, with his 2023 effort seeing him beaten only three lengths when 12th on good to soft going.
“He would have a fair chance, but he likes some give in the ground,” said Berry, who retired from training himself in 2000. “When he ran in the Stewards’ Cup last year he finished fifth but he actually won his race on his side. It’s annoying when that happens, it happened to me when I was training and Pivotal beat Mind Games in the King’s Stand!
“If there’s give in the ground I think he’s got a squeak. At the end of last season he ran at York in a race won by Montassib who is now a Group One winner, so it just shows you need a Group horse to win these races.
“When we won the Ayr Gold Cup in 1988 with So Careful, he was bottom-weight off 72 – he’d only just scrape into the Bronze Cup these days! It would be very poignant if he won as So Careful’s owner Tommy Doherty died last week, so I’d dedicate it to his memory.”
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