Horse Racing Tips: Virgin Bet Ayr Gold Cup Festival, day two preview

By Ed Watson

17:25 · THU September 19, 2024

Ed Watson is our man basking in the sunshine on Scotland’s west coast for the Virgin Bet Ayr Gold Cup Festival.

In the second of his daily previews, the Scottish Sun columnist and Racing TV analyst fancies a seasoned sprinter to make her class tell as the action cranks up towards Saturday's superb Virgin Bet Ayr Gold Cup card.

UNCLE DON (3.05)

Now we know why we’ve not seen UNCLE DON for the best part of 11 weeks. He’s been coughing. What we have known for some time, however, is that form of his Beverley win has been getting franked over and again. Mostly by the runner-up Big Mojo, who won the Molecomb on his next start, and had since finished fourth in the Gimcrack and second in the Flying Childers. But also by the third, who dotted up in a Thirsk nursery recently.

Of course, Big Mojo has improved markedly since that debut on the Westwood, when he had to give best to a rival with invaluable experience already in the locker. Nevertheless, the way in which Uncle Don picked up for pressure to power home by a growing two-and-a-quarter lengths was deeply striking. It screamed Pattern potential. He gets a chance to fulfil that now in a race his trainer has won twice before, including in 2012 with subsequent Group 1 scorer Garswood.

While Uncle Don’s prep may not have been perfect, I’m encouraged by the positive noises being made about his current wellbeing by trainer Richard Fahey. The Middleham Park-owned colt looks the type to make another sizeable leap forward from second start to third, especially with Timeform’s forecast for a strong pace almost certainly giving this half-brother to the stable’s Malc - last season’s Norfolk runner-up - an ideal tow into the business end of the contest from a middle draw in box eight.

The Inside Word: “The poor horse was coughing for a while after his win at Beverley but we’ve had a clear run with him of late and he’s very fit and very well. He goes in deep here, it looks a strong renewal of the race, but the form of that win has worked out really well with Big Mojo, who was second, winning the Molecomb and finishing second in the Flying Childers, and Managing Director in third winning a nursery at Thirsk. He needs to improve and be right on his A-game to be involved in the finish, but I think there’s more to come.” - Richard Fahey, trainer

Oisin Murphy: International Targets

AZURE BLUE (3.40)

This looks a deeper renewal of this race than is sometimes the case, with five of the 13 runners bringing triple-digit official ratings to the table. As one of only two Group winners in the field, and the only one to score at Group 2 level, AZURE BLUE can stamp her class on this Listed race back against her own sex.

You need to be prepared to forgive Michael Dods’ mare an unusually poor run at York just 12 days ago. There are plausible excuses, though. Sustained rain turned the ground softer than she likes. She lost both front shoes beforehand. And she suffered two sideways shunts in quick succession which likely dented her rhythm and possibly her confidence too.

A drying week and warm temperatures on Scotland’s west coast should have the Ayr ground exactly as Azure Blue wants it. And she proved herself on this track by getting up late to snatch a share of the spoils in the Land O’Burns Stakes over 5f in June. A 3lb penalty for that Listed success means Azure Blue comes out slightly worse at the weights with tissue favourite Frost At Dawn, who was only a head behind Azure Blue in the Nunthorpe.

That is more than built into the prices, with Dods’ runner available to back at more than double the odds of William Knight’s Meydan Group 3 winner. The likely set-up of this race - with the speedy Woodhay Wonder drawn immediately next door in stall 12 - and extra 110 yards of this rarely-used 5½f trip should both play to Azure Blue’s strengths.

The Inside Word: “You can put a line through her last run at York, where everything that could have gone wrong did. She's come out of the race well. I sat on her last Saturday and she was moving better than ever. We came here for the 5f race in June with this race in mind as Michael thinks it will be perfect for her.” - Paul Mulrennan, jockey

ANNANDALE (5.20)

I’m not one for making a habit of backing horses who’ve not won in three years going back 23 races. But I am prepared to make an exception for ANNANDALE in the Friday finale. Well beaten in this race for each of the last two years, you have to trawl back to his victory in a better race over course and distance at this meeting in 2021 to find that most ‘recent’ win.

The six-year-old Australia gelding has been interestingly campaigned, to say the least, since returning for a second stint with Jim Goldie and making a belated seasonal reappearance last month.

He’s run four times in 40 days. The first two of those over 1m3f, the next two over just 1m. He’s been ridden by a pair of inexperienced jockeys - one an apprentice, the other an amateur - with a total of only 16 rides and zero wins between them. He’s caught my eye on a couple of those occasions, as well as those of the stewards.

Annandale’s mark has come down only 4lb for those four runs (he’s due to go down another 1lb from Saturday), but that merely makes him look even more attractively weighted having fallen 29lb from his peak mark of late-2021. Back up to a much more suitable trip and with Mulrennan now taking over the reins, this looks to be the right time to step in for a bet.

The Inside Word: “I've not ridden him since he came back to Jim’s. He's put in a couple of OK runs this season and we're going back up to his last winning trip, so he should go well.” - Paul Mulrennan, jockey

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