The Ayr Gold Cup is the feature race on Saturday’s ITV Racing showcase, which serves up a total of five contests from the Scottish track alongside four contests from Newbury’s Mill Reef card.
Our best bets include a brace from the Berkshire circuit alongside an exciting each-way shout for five-time winning trainer Kevin Ryan in the day’s big handicap.
ITV Racing Tips – Saturday September 21
1.30 Newbury – Annaf to win @ 3/1
2.25 Newbury – Lieber Power @ 5/1
3.35 Ayr – Sergeant Wilko to win (each-way) @ 16/1
Bet on the latest horse racing odds at Betzone
Class horse in the race can bounce back from Group 1 no-show
ANNAF seems certain to be sent off favourite to land Newbury’s opening sprint (1.30) and while there are bound to be punters keen to oppose him off the back of his 15th of 16 finish in the Group 1 Sprint Cup at Haydock earlier this month, he looks a great bet.
The five-year-old had landed the £945k Group 2 Saudi National Bank 1351 Turf Sprint at Riyadh over 7f on his previous start, while his third to Bradsell in last season’s 5f King’s Stand at Royal Ascot hasn’t exactly been tarnished by that one’s consecutive Group 1 wins at York and the Curragh in the last month.
He’s 8lbs clear of the field on official ratings and trouble in running was to blame for his poor showing last time out. No sooner had Rossa Ryan began to roust his mount along than he was bumped by one rival and all but pulled up as another veered into his path, killing his momentum.
Granted a less eventful passage he can bounce back to assert himself over this Group 3 field.
Tip: 1.30 Newbury – Annaf to win @ 3/1
Step up in trip seems certain to suit Murphy-Balding contender
Last year’s winner Not So Sleepy looks far too big at 9/1 to win Newbury’s Dubai Duty Free Autumn Cup Handicap (2.05). The redoubtable veteran returns on a mark just 1lb higher than winning the 2023 edition going away.
The difference this year is that the race is likely to be contested on good-to-soft rather than heavy going, which means that ready preference is for Andrew Balding’s LIEBER POWER, who has won both his previous outings on the ground.
Since stepping up to trips around the 1m4f mark earlier this season the four-year-old has form figures of 1-2-1-2-2, with each of those defeats coming by a neck or less as he ran out of road in his attempts to reel in the victor. The extra one-and-a-half furlongs here should be just what the doctor ordered.
Tip: 2.25 Newbury – Lieber Power @ 5/1
Collateral form suggests prolific Wilko can improve again
A perusal of Kevin Ryan’s squadron is obligatory when weighing up any edition of the Ayr Gold Cup (3.30). The Hambleton handler has landed the heritage handicap five times in the past 20 years, most recently scooping the 2021 running when Kevin Stott partnered Bielsa to victory.
The Kevins can combine to strike again with another King Power Racing representative in the shape of progressive three-year-old SERGEANT WILKO, who has clambered the handicap this term thanks to a spree of four wins from five runs.
He’s been put up 18lbs by the handicapper since starting the season on a mark of 78, but the form of his most recent success in the ‘William Hill First Race Special Today Handicap’ at Glorious Goodwood has worked out sufficiently well to suggest that he can prove better than his current official rating of 96.
Tacarib Bay, second that day, was a nose second in another hot Class 2 handicap next time out, while third Baldomero scored at the same level at York on his subsequent start and fourth-placed Rumstar was beaten only half a length into fifth in the Portland Handicap on St Leger day.
Unbeaten in four runs over 6f this term Sergeant Wilko seems certain not to have finished improving and can go very close off a feather weight at an each-way price.
