17:25 Ayr

Saturday 23 June 2018

All13:4514:2014:5515:3016:1016:5017:25

Leith Handicap

Off time: 17:29 | Winning time: 1m 12.08s

(2)

Gnaad¹⁸⁶

Age: 4| Weight: 9-9| J: Josephine Gordon| T: A Bailey| OR: 74| BF

16/1

Has a 40% strike-rate on turf (2 from 5), but yet to win over further than 5f and hasn't run since December 2017.

Form: 117653-

(6)

Shaheen^t¹²

Age: 3| Weight: 9-7| J: Jason Hart| T: J & S Quinn| OR: 79| D

15/8

Up 4lb for a narrow neck win at Pontefract (6f good to firm) just under a fortnight ago; twice a winner in 2017 for today's rider Jason Hart.

Form: 314-391

(1)

Tommy G¹⁴

Age: 5| Weight: 9-5| J: Barry McHugh| T: J S Goldie| OR: 70| C

7/2

Kept almost exclusively to sprint trips (5f to 6f) since January, and clearly isn't a frequent winner (1 from 28), but that win did come at this track in May 2017; albeit over 7f.

Form: 532935

(8)

Equitant^b1¹⁴

Age: 3| Weight: 9-2| J: P Mulrennan| T: R A Fahey| OR: 74

2/1

Seems to be ideally suited by a fast racing surface, and whilst the handicapper has largely been in control he produced a solid run latest when finishing 1½L third to Breaking Records (6f Haydock); blinkers applied.

Form: 336-543

(7)

Danish Duke^b¹¹

Age: 7| Weight: 8-9| J: J P Sullivan| T: Mrs R Carr| OR: 60| CD

14/1

C&D winner in July 2016 (soft), but low-key on each of his last three starts; falling down the handicap as a result; conditions not ideal.

Form: 20-4000

(3)

Star Cracker^p⁵

Age: 6| Weight: 8-9| J: P J McDonald| T: J S Goldie| OR: 59| BF| C| D

9/1

Plenty of placed efforts (beaten a neck over C&D last month), but hasn't won since the depths of winter on the AW at Newcastle (6f) and was a slowly away, never involved beaten 7/4f here on Monday (5f).

Form: 682256

(4)

House Of Cards¹⁹

Age: 3| Weight: 8-2| J: Cam Hardie| T: I Jardine| OR: 45

50/1

5-race maiden for James Tate/Ian Jardine with precious few signs that's about to change anytime soon; no chance.

Form: 70790

Non-Runners

(5)

Brendan⁵

Weight: 8-9| Age: 5

T: J S Goldie J: C J McGovern

Forecasts

Shaheen (15/8), Equitant (2/1), Tommy G (7/2), Star Cracker (9/1), Danish Duke (14/1), Brendan (14/1), Gnaad (16/1), House Of Cards (50/1)

Best to concentrate solely upon the Yorkshire raiders Shaheen and EQUITANT. John Quinn has enjoyed a stellar week with a Royal Ascot winner and his three-year-old Shaheen must be competitive despite a 4lb rise for his recent narrow Pontefract win. He goes well for Jason Hart, and this race won't take much winning. That said; the Richard Fahey-trained runner Equitant is just preferred with blinkers enlisted in order to thwart a winless spell which goes back to his racecourse debut in August 2017.