William Hill Ayr Gold Cup
Heritage Handicap, Ayr 15:50
£200,000 added,
3yo plus,
6f, Class 2   
Saturday 21st September 2019

QuinnBet

1 Angel Alexander 28/1
2 Growl 28/1
3 Gulliver 8/1
4 Summerghand 11/1
24 ran NR: Air Raid Distances: ½l, ½l, ¾l
Time: 1m 9.26s (fast by 0.54s)

The Tom Dascombe-trained Angel Alexander was one of only two three-year-olds in the line-up, but produced the goods to come out on top in one of the most valuable and competitive sprint handicaps in the calendar.

On settling down after the start, Richard Kingscote made the brave decision to keep Angel Alexander as one of only six in the 24-strong field to stick towards the stands side.

It paid dividends with Angel Alexander showing a high draw (24 from 25 declared) was no detriment to success.

Major Jumbo and Gunmetal led the way for the high numbers in the early stages with Justanotherbottle, Staxton and Laugh A Minute among those prominent in the bigger group.

Kingscote made his move over a furlong out and Angel Alexander pulled clear of those around him and had enough in hand to beat the other group, led by Growl by half a length.

Gulliver was another half-length away in third with his David O'Meara-trained stablemate, Summerghand, a further three-quarters of a length back in fourth place.

The Irish-trained 100-30 favourite Buffer Zone, from the Ger Lyons stable, was among those on the near side but proved disappointing and could not get in a blow after his victory at the Curragh six days earlier.

"I was disappointed I couldn't get there myself because the train was delayed," said Dascombe.

"It didn't change the result and all I can say is Richard gave it an amazing ride. The horse is very genuine.

"It was brilliant and for good people like Peter Birbeck, Steve Mound and Keith Trowbridge, it's wonderful to have a big win for them.

"Richard (Kingscote) said in the paper this morning this had been the plan for a long time and it has been.

"For a three-year-old to win like that - funny thing we were third out of the draw for the starting stalls and I went for 24. It's all just worked out like a fairytale.

"They split into two groups and we were in the smaller group and luckily they went hard our side and the pace was always on our side.

"If we had been drawn two I don't think we'd have won." 

William Hill Ayr Gold Cup
£200,000 added, 3yo plus, 6f, Class 2
24 ran
Going: Good

POS (DRAW) DIST HORSE AGE WGT TRAINER JOCKEY SP
1 (24)      Angel Alexander 3 8-13 Tom Dascombe Richard Kingscote 28/1
2 (18) ½ Growl 7 8-9 Richard Fahey Tony Hamilton 28/1
3 (9) ½ Gulliver 5 8-12 David O'Meara Jason Hart 8/1
4 (1) 3 ¾ Summerghand 5 9-2 David O'Meara David Nolan 11/1
5 (16) hd Embour 4 8-9 Richard Hannon Paddy Mathers 20/1
6 (10) nk Louie De Palma 7 8-9 Clive Cox Hector Crouch 20/1
7 (3) hd Soldier's Minute 4 8-10 Keith Dalgleish Joe Fannin 18/1
8 (17) ½ Arecibo 4 8-12 David O'Meara Daniel Tudhope 10/1
9 (23) nk Gunmetal 6 9-1 David Barron Oisin Murphy 20/1
10 (4) nse Staxton 4 8-12 Tim Easterby David Allan 16/1
11 (12) nk Merhoob 7 8-13 John Ryan Ben Curtis 66/1
12 (7) nse Intisaab 8 8-13 David O'Meara Angus Villiers 14/1
13 (15) hd Good Effort 4 8-12 Ismail Mohammed Paul Mulrennan 33/1
14 (20) ½ Major Jumbo 5 9-8 Kevin Ryan Tom Eaves 16/1
15 (11) ¾ Cold Stare 4 8-12 David O'Meara Robbie Downey 40/1
16 (8) ¾ Hey Jonesy 4 9-3 Kevin Ryan Kevin Stott 10/1
17 (21) 1½ Buffer Zone 4 9-4 5ex G M Lyons Colin Keane 100/30F
18 (22) hd Stone Of Destiny 4 8-13 Andrew Balding P J McDonald 33/1
19 (19) nk George Bowen 7 8-10 Richard Fahey Paul Hanagan 33/1
20 (1) nse Mr Lupton 6 9-10 Richard Fahey Sean Davis 20/1
21 (6) shd Barbill 3 8-9 Mick Channon Nathan Evans 25/1
22 (25) 1½ Bacchus 5 9-6 Brian Meehan Colm O'Donoghue 33/1
23 (2) ½ Justanotherbottle 5 9-1 5ex Declan Carroll Zak Wheatley 25/1
24 (5) 1½ Laugh A Minute 4 9-3 Roger Varian Rossa Ryan 12/1
NR 10 (14) 711010 Air Raid 4 9-0 Jedd O'Keeffe NON RUNNER

Mathematician Betting