Alex Hammond Blog

Alex Hammond looks ahead to a big weekend of racing and has two against the field in Saturday's feature - the Ayr Gold Cup.

It’s an important week in Scotland, yes you got it, the three-day Western meeting got under way on Thursday, and Ayr’s fixture culminates with the feature William Hill Ayr Gold Cup on Saturday.

The draw was made for the six furlong handicap on Thursday morning (I think there was another ballot taking place in Scotland on Thursday?!) and trainers were voting ‘Yes’ to high stall numbers.

Ok, enough of the Referendum puns now, let’s concentrate on the racing... and no mention of the fact that a few of my Twitter followers are mentioning me in the same breath as Alex Salmond, I think the comparisons begin and end with our love of racing!

Highland Acclaim was first out of the hat and David O’Meara chose 18, unfortunately for O’Meara his ante-post favourite Watchable was pulled out late and he ended up with five for him.

Louis The Pious comes out of last year’s winning stall, 19, also for O’Meara. Watchable is turning out again just a week after winning a Premier Handicap at the Curragh for which he carries a 5lb penalty. He’s a progressive, lightly raced four year old, who seems best suited to this trip for the time being.

Highland Acclaim has just sneaked in at the bottom of the handicap and O’Meara has chosen to claim off him too. He’s a really likeable horse that has benefitted from the fitting of a hood and unlike the aforementioned Watchable, he won’t mind the drying ground as he is a proper fast ground performer.

He has to be one for my place shortlist. Louis the Pious is another horse that has done well for the stable this year with a Royal Ascot win to his name. He will wear a visor for the first time rather than a hood. He was second in this last year off a 6lb lower rating and could just be a few pounds too high in the handicap.

Richard Fahey has six runners in the race and he has booked useful apprentice Jack Garritty to claim 5lb off Alben Star’s back. This horse has been running well all campaign having won on the valuable Good Friday card at Lingfield in April. He has been running well to be consistently placed in top handicaps and Listed company and deserves to bag a big race.

Fahey’s Eastern Impact is drawn 11 and comes here in good form having won a Newmarket handicap last time out. The three year old is lightly raced and seems equally at home on most ground. It looks like he is still improving.

Fahey’s Rene Mathis is another that comes into calculations and he also has a middle draw. He was third to Muthmir in the Sky Bet Dash at York back in July and that form looks good. He has since run well a couple of times over seven furlongs although was well beaten last time out after getting hampered when weakening.

Mass Rally is drawn 15 for Michael Dods, who said on Thursday that he wouldn’t want to see the ground dry out too much ahead of Saturday’s race. He is still a couple of pounds higher than his last winning mark.

BLAINE has plenty going for him, not least his stall position of 26. Kevin Ryan’s four year old seems to have been around for ages, but he has only run 14 times in his life and has won four of those starts. Amy Ryan knows him well with all but one of those wins coming for the former champion apprentice.

He made a great start to his career, winning his first two starts including the Gimcrack, but his three year old season was a let-down. He has been given time and is rewarding his connections now this term and I think he has everything in place to win a race like this.

He is effective at the trip, the ground is also fine and his trainer has won this race twice in the past three years. He saddles four runners in his bid to win it again including Hamza (stall six), Captain Ramius (eight) and York Glory (21).

York Glory is bound to pop up at some point - I fancied him in the Portland, but he ran a stinker and finished last. He’s not obviously well handicapped but I imagine he’ll win when least expected.

BURN THE BOATS came out of the hat early on and Irish trainer Ger Lyons chose to go low with gate three - at the time of writing that doesn’t look the place to be.

He stays well having won over a mile, but is just as effective at six furlongs. He ran well off his current mark when unlucky in running in the Irish Cambridgeshire on his penultimate start and he would be my pick of the horses drawn low.

Go Far (14) has had a good year with five wins and was sixth in the Portland last time out for Alan Bailey when not getting the clearest of runs. He seemingly keeps being one step ahead of the handicapper and the fast ground looks like being in his favour too.

I bet he’s the type of horse you don’t have to do too much with at home and he is certainly kept busy on the track with 19 runs since the turn of the year. I’d be wary of taking him on as there may still be more to come as he continues to hold his form.

Jack Dexter (four) and Hawkeyethenoo (16) both hail from the Jim Goldie stable with Graham Lee on the former who carries top weight. He has been running at the highest level and hasn’t run since the July Cup so hopefully the break will have freshened him up; he needs to return to something like his best to figure here.

Hawkeyethenoo is another grand old servant, although his last win came in the 2012 Steward’s Cup. He isn’t badly treated, but you just have to hope he hasn’t forgotten how to win.

Ruwaiyan comes out of stall one for James Tate; it’s not just the draw that puts me off him. He doesn’t look well handicapped and isn’t the most straightforward so he’s not for me.

In conclusion, this is a fiendishly difficult race to call and I’m going to go for one drawn high and one drawn low. My main selection is BLAINE for the Ryan team and the Irish raider BURN THE BOATS is my next best. Sky Bet are paying five places so that makes the job a touch easier.

There is also a decent card at Newbury on Saturday and it looks to be a smart renewal of the Dubai Duty Free Mill Reef Stakes.

The six furlong Group Two has attracted a field of eight and Henry Candy’s LIMATO is the likely favourite. This gelding comes into the race unbeaten and is improving steadily. He had the Gimcrack on his agenda, but bypassed that due to a dirty scope and hasn’t run since winning on his turf debut at Newbury in July in Listed grade.

He looks an out-and-out sprinter and will no doubt have improved again. The horse that was second to him that day, Cotai Glory, has since won the Molecombe and would have won the Flying Childers but for unseating his jockey in the closing stages.

Jungle Cat did run in the Gimcrack and finished second only beaten a nose. He is an incredibly consistent performer and has been placed in the Coventry, July Stakes and Richmond Stakes as well as the York race. He really deserves to win a race at this level and has the form to do so. Mubtaghaa was a little further back in the July Stakes, but has since come out and won at a valuable sales race.

Richard Hannon saddles Baitha Alga, the mount of Frankie Dettori. His last place finish in the Gimcrack was too bad to be true and I’d forgive him that one bad run. He carries a penalty thanks to his win in the Norfolk Stakes.

Charlie Hills runs the twice raced Strath Burn. He was second to Kool Kompany in the Prix Robert Papin last time out. Whilst he is yet to make the headlines thanks to anything he has achieved on the track, he has been in the news as he was one of the horses to test positive for morphine, he returned the positive test after his maiden win at Newbury. Now he has a bit more experience he should be more streetwise and he has claims if handling the faster ground on Saturday.

Henry Candy’s juvenile, LIMATO, looks very smart and has an obvious chance of maintaining his unbeaten record under Ryan Moore.

The Dubai Duty Free Handicap is a competitive-looking affair and Ryan Moore has the chance of another winner as he’s on Queensberry Rules for William Haggas in this mile and a quarter contest. The horse achieved that elusive win last time out at York having been well fancied on a few occasions this season.

The cheekpieces helped his cause and he wears them again here. The Cambridgeshire is on his agenda.

AIR PILOT is ridden by last year’s Ayr Gold Cup winning jockey Oisin Murphy for Ralph Beckett. He hasn’t run since finishing second to Farraaj at Epsom in June and looks interesting off a good racing weight. He’s lightly raced and a likely improver.

Roseburg ended his winning run at Goodwood last time out for Luca Cumani but isn’t out of it. Brian Meehan’s Madeed has the ability to win this but may not be straightforward, his head-carriage isn’t too attractive. However, he will be fitted with blinkers on Saturday.

It's another wide open contest, but I quite like AIR PILOT as that early-season form looks decent and there should be more to come.

‘My’ racehorse Farlow (that should read my tail hair of Farlow), runs in the Silver Cup at Ayr, but I’m worried about the drying ground for him.