Punters get in the zone for Ayr Gold Cup as sprinters dash for £200,000

It is not quite the race that stops a nation but the William Hill Ayr Gold Cup is certainly worth 75 seconds of your time this afternoon.

Scotland's biggest Flat race is a six-furlong dash worthy of the £200,000 prize fund and it is a definite part of the country's export industry, which was worth £32.8 billion by the latest count.

That was mainly due to sales of oil, gas and whisky but the flow across the border also included two replica trophies, one to Ireland and one to Wantage after two winners last year, making up for the fact there were none in 2017 due to the race's abandonment.

The dead-heat was an atypically close finish, with five of the previous seven winners at Ayr scoring by two lengths or more – a positive procession in a tight sprint handicap.

And normal service may be about to resume if the word from the bookmakers' PR teams can be believed, with Buffer Zone a red-hot favourite since his win at the Curragh last Sunday.

Winning on Irish Champions Weekend did not necessarily make him a champion – yet – but trainer Ger Lyons saying "hopefully he can turn into a Group horse" is just the sort of thing to have punters – and oddsmakers – marking him out as a handicapper to follow.

Yet that could be said about many of his rivals in a race that has been the prime target for most.

The form book suggests looking to multiple recent winners Kevin Ryan, Richard Fahey and Andrew Balding, but the complications of draw and rapidly drying ground remind you it is no coincidence only two favourites have won outright since 1996.

Things may be much more straightforward in the Dubai Duty Free Mill Reef Stakes, which has gone to the market leader in four of the last eight years and has not had a winner at odds bigger than 4-1 in the last decade.

Just two are likely to start at a similarly short price this time according to the Racing Post betting forecast and each would be keeping the race in the family.

We make Haydock debut winner Pierre Lapin favourite and he is a half-brother to Harry Angel, who took this three years ago. Pierre Lapin (Peter Rabbit for those who used to sleep in French lessons) is well named as his and Harry Angel's mother is Beatrix Potter.

Market rival Mystery Power bids to give Richard Hannon his first victory in a contest his father landed on four occasions. His last two winners were ridden by Ryan Moore, who gets the mount again today as he seeks to add to the four Group races he won last weekend.

Saturday cards and betting

Another day for seeing stars

There were seven Group 1 races in Britain and Ireland last weekend and seven days on there are none, but that is not to say there won't be stars in action.

As befits a race named after one of the greats of the 20th century, the Mill Reef Stakes has been the launchpad for many a good horse and five winners have gone on to score at the top level in the last dozen years.

Nor does lack of past form mean a winner will not make it to the top – champion sprinter Harry Angel and crack miler Ribchester were maidens when they took this in the last four years.

Harry Angel scored his first win in the Mill Reef Stakes in 2016Credit: Alan Crowhurst

The Ayr Gold Cup may be 'only' a handicap but it's a hugely valuable one and Brando, Regal Parade, Continent, Bahamian Pirate and Coastal Bluff have all gone on to Group 1 success after winning it in the past quarter of a century.

No time to desert winning team

Spencer and Simcock – they may sound like a firm of provincial solicitors but they have actually been an even more profitable pairing over the last fortnight.

Jockey Jamie and trainer David have teamed up for winners from Ascot to Yarmouth and Doncaster to Belmont in the last two weeks.

Highlight was the Jockey Club Derby triumph of Spanish Mission in New York, where Spencer’s last-gasp effort to force his mount’s nose in front on the line earned a first prize of more than £420,000.

There is less than a tenth of that sum on offer to the winner of the Dubai Duty Free Legacy Cup at Newbury but the in-form partnership look the ones to beat once again.

Their Desert Encounter won Group 3 races at Goodwood and Windsor last month and looks primed for another big run in a race he won two years ago and his trainer took three years in a row from 2015.

Too good for the Gold Cup

You can never be too rich or too thin, as the Duchess of Windsor reputedly proclaimed, but your horse can be too good.

That's what retired County Durham businessman Doug Graham will be reflecting on as he drives down to Newbury to see Dakota Gold, the much-improved sprinter he shares with Ian Davison.

Dakota Gold: upped in class at NewburyCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

That improvement has seen their five-year-old win his last four races, leap in the ratings so that he topped the handicap for the Ayr Gold Cup and then earn a double penalty that took his weight past what was reckoned feasible for the former ante-post favourite to carry.

"I've been waiting 30 years to win the Ayr Gold Cup and now my horse is too good to run in it!" Graham joked to trainer Michael Dods.

Dakota Gold's new target is the Group 3 Dubai International Airport World Trophy Stakes 400 miles away at Newbury, where the one-time 26,000gns yearling clashes with Equilateral, a Khalid Abdullah blueblood from the family of last week's St Leger winner Logician.

His rival was a Listed winner himself at Doncaster and Racing Post Ratings have just 3lb between a pair of promising sprinters who could be set for many a clash in years to come.

Today on ITV4 Racing: Armchair Guide

Dubai International Airport World Trophy Stakes (Group 3)
5f
In-form sprinters Dakota Gold and Equilateral come here on the back of Listed success and are each seeking a first Group 3 victory.

William Hill Foundation: Uniting Against Dementia Handicap
1m
Waarif won this off a mark of 95 last year, having finished fourth on his previous start – just as he did in his latest run ahead of his bid for a repeat success off the same mark.

Dubai Duty Free Legacy Cup Stakes (Group 3)
7f
Desert Encounter attempts to repeat his 2017 victory but Pondus and Waldstern try to score a third win by a three-year-old in the last four seasons.

William Hill Ayr Silver Cup Handicap
6f
Phillip Makin bids to land the biggest success of his first training season with in-form Lahore, whose main rival looks to be Sir Michael Stoute's improving three-year-old Alkaraama.

Dubai Duty Free Mill Reef Stakes (Group 2)
6f
Harry Angel won this in 2016 and his half-brother Pierre Lapin, an impressive debut winner at Haydock in May, bids to keep the prize in the family.

William Hill Firth of Clyde Stakes (Group 3)
6f
Having scored a stylish Listed win at Newbury last month, the Iain Jardine-trained Orlaith bids for a rare Scottish success in this Group 3 event.

Dubai Duty Free Handicap
1m2f
A 5lb penalty leaves the progressive Forest Of Dean still well treated for this hat-trick bid as he was put up 10lb by the handicapper for his win at York last month.

3.50 Ayr
William Hill Ayr Gold Cup6f
Irish raider Buffer Zone has dominated betting in the lead-up to Scotland's biggest Flat race, with the David O'Meara trio of Gulliver, Summerghand and Arecibo emerging as his main market rivals

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