#Silver Cup

Ground conditions at both Warwick and Kempton Park are likely to decide the winners of the two big weekend handicaps tomorrow. A month ago, clerks of the course and groundsmen up and down the country feared it might never rain again. Now it seems to pour almost every day and, as a result, it is essential to back horses that revel in the mud. The…

The Paddy Power New Year's Day Handicap Chase at Cheltenham over more than two and a half miles on Sunday is a hugely competitive affair. There are no less than six horses in this race from my'horse tracker' - horses that have caught my eye for one reason or another recently and that I expect to back in future. The key to the outcome of the race is…

KING Kevin Ryan was delighted to honour the name of Leeds United gaffer Marcelo Bielsa as he went nap at the Virgin Bet Ayr Gold Cup. The master trainer landed the £150000 Scottish flat-racing showpiece for a staggering fifth time after his adventurous six-year-old ploughed a lone furrow to success. Ryan showed all the tactical nous of Elland Road…

CAMPANELLE (4.20) can sparkle for Californian Ace Wesley Ward in the Platinum Jubilee Stakes on Day Five of Royal Ascot. The sprinter first showed her liking for this track when hammering Sacred in the 2020 Queen Mary. The filly added the Group 1 Prix Morny at Deauville to her CV with an easy defeat of Nando Parrado. She ran another blinder here…

Richard Kingscote: gets the plum ride back on board Great Ambassador in the Ayr Gold Cup Richard Kingscote will be reunited with Great Ambassador in the Ayr Gold Cup (3.40) after the ante-post favourite was confirmed in a full field of 25 runners for Saturday's feature race. The son of Exceed And Excel has been in flying form since moving to Ed…

The likeable Joe Tizzard was a talented jockey and he is proving equally adept as a trainer. His father, Colin Tizzard, retired at the end of last season after a hugely successful training career so this is Tizzard Jnr's first season with only his name on the licence. Tizzard has already trained 32 winners this season, with an admirable 17 per cent…

Mon Mome won the 2009 Grand National at odds of 100-1. Which runners might cause a shock on Saturday? Freewheelin Dylan defied odds of 150-1 to win the BoyleSports Irish Grand National on Monday and the Randox Grand National at Aintree is no stranger to some big-priced horses winning or hitting the frame. With that in mind, three Racing Post…

When: 3.40 Saturday, September 17 Where: Ayr Racecourse Winner's prize: £77310 Where to watch: ITV Racing and Racing TV One of three horses in the field officially well-in here, having backed up his Stewards' Cup win with a fine run when second to Summerghand at York. Only managed seventh in this last year but had beaten Bielsa over course and…

Protektorat flew the Lodge Hill flag high with victory in the Grade One Betfair Chase at Haydock but it is Skelton's handicappers who have been in scintillating form since then and the trainer has chances in both the Betfair Exchange Trophy - a race he first won with Willow's Saviour in 2013 - and the Howden Silver Cup Handicap Chase. The…

Gold Cup day at Ayr saw one of the most valuable sprint handicaps in Europe take place in Scotland. Khanjar was sent off a hot favourite for honours but neither he nor 2021 winner Bielsa were to fire this afternoon and off a fast pace that he truly loves, it was Summerghand that was to add another big prize to his impressive roll of honour at odds…

Nomadic Empire (near): a winner over this distance at York last season Yorkshire folk are extremely generous hosts but that does not mean they enjoy watching visitors make off with their money. This 6f handicap has been won by a horse trained in the county in seven of the last eight runnings and it looks set to stay at home again this year as only…

RACING, so often divided, has united in showing appreciation for late Queen Elizabeth II's love and support of the sport. Most feel her backing has been invaluable. I am certainly one of those. But before the Queen's sad passing what did we actually do to show that? The more I think about it, the gains from Royal patronage seems to have been rather…

With the weekend's Premier League schedule ravaged because of Covid-19 outbreaks at a number of clubs, the betting focus switches to an excellent card for the second day of the Christmas Racing Weekend meeting at Ascot. The feature race is the Grade 1 Long Walk Hurdle (2.25pm). A high-class field of eight goes to post despite the withdrawal…

Khanjar (left) and last year's winner Bielsa both have strong claims for Ayr Gold Cup glory Kevin Ryan's record in the Ayr Gold Cup is legendary. Successful five times with Advanced (2007), Our Jonathan (2011), Captain Ramius (2012), Brando (2016) and Bielsa (2021), the Malton trainer is four-handed in his bid for a sixth win. Bielsa heads the…

EVERYTHING Roger Varian touches at the minute is turning to gold. Just six days after he won the St Leger at Doncaster with Eldar Eldarov, the Newmarket trainer banged in a mega 9290-1 six-timer. The quietly-spoken 43-year-old is considered one of the best trainers in the country. He has won Classics and Group 1 races around the world, but he had…

Staxton (far side) gets up late in last year's Ayr Silver Cup Draw biases are often hailed as the be-all and end-all when it comes to big-field sprints but more often than not the location of the pace determines the winner. With no rain forecast and firmer ground expected, a track bias is less likely to influence the result and working out where…

Ayr and Newbury take centre stage this Saturday and the ITV cameras are at both racecourses, with the Gold and Silver Cups the highlights in Scotland, while the Group 2 Dubai Duty Free Mill Reef Stakes is the feature race in Berkshire. The broadcast is on air on ITV4 between 1.10 and 4.00pm, and our expert has predictions for all nine races. Enda…

Racing TV ambassador Paul Mulrennan headed straight off to Ayr after riding a winner in the last at Newcastle on Thursday evening and is looking forward to a busy couple of days. He gives us the inside track on his hopes for Saturday. I jumped straight in the car for the journey north and west to Ayr after a late finish at Newcastle, arriving in…

DID YOU KNOW? 18 of the last 21 Ayr Gold Cup winners ran in the last 4 weeks. So, why not snap-up a FREE £30 bet with 888Sport to use on Saturday's Ayr Gold Cup? Apply these key Ayr Gold Cup Trends and Stats to the final 2022 runners to find the best winning profiles based on past winners.

The Ayr Gold Cup Festival continues on Friday, September 16 at Ayr Racecourse in Scotland. The Ayr Gold Cup Festival is the biggest flats racing event Scotland has to offer. The three-day horse racing festival is one of the top events of the early autumn calendar in the United Kingdom. Ayr Gold Cup Day 2 will have eight stellar races beginning at…

Bielsa: aiming for back-to-back Ayr Gold Cup wins Bielsa and Kevin Stott will bid to become the first back-to-back winners of the Virgin Bet Ayr Gold Cup Handicap (3.40) after the defending champion was declared for Scotland's most valuable race. The seven-year-old is yet to score since winning the £150000 handicap last year and will face a full…

Paddy Twomey was no doubt a shade disappointed after French Claim only beat a couple home in the St Leger but the trainer bagged a Group One thanks for Pearls Galore in Saturday's Matron Stakes at Leopardstown and must have been over the moon with how Erosandpsyche performed in the Flying Five at the Curragh on Sunday. Nothing looked like getting…