Paul Kealy's play of the day at Ayr

Soaring Glory was my main ante-post fancy for the Coral Scottish Champion Hurdle (2.25) and while he is a fair bit shorter now than he was on Monday, that's because the race has cut up nicely.

The eight-year-old has a brilliant record when fresh, his only poor run first-time-out coming this season when he was tried over fences at Carlisle, which he hated.

He has not run since being a blatant non-stayer upped to 2m4½f on rain-softened ground at Newbury on New Year's Eve, but has been ready for a while as he was taken out of the Imperial Cup on account of the heavy ground.

Conditions are going to be perfect for him here, and 2m in a decent-sized field provides him with his ideal conditions.

His form figures over 2m in fields of ten or more runners read 1112F115 and he'd have won the time he fell (albeit at odds of 1-8), while he is back on the same mark as when running away with a quality handicap at Ascot on last season's return.