IN THE bygone days of yore, today's meeting at Ayr would have fired the starting pistol on the Scottish Circuit, a Bacchanalian feast of wall-to-wall-racing north of the Border which tested even those with an ox-like constitution.
While things have changed somewhat, one constant is that the bookmakers at the Craigie course this afternoon will be just as desperate to get their hands on punters' cash as they were all those years ago, and punters will be equally as desperate to
hang on to it.
Isn't tradition a wonderful thing?
No Grouse and Invincible Lad have both scored recently for Eric Alston and look primed to do so again, while if Postman wants to live up to his name and follow the example of the Royal Mail in my area, he should ensure jockey Tom Eaves delivers him as late as possible.
Weight could stop a train as the old saying goes but the converse of that is horses head the handicap because they're better than their rivals, and in the case of Annibale Caro, Sweet Pickle, and Capucci, fingers crossed the latter reasoning holds sway.
The finale is a nightmare, with most of the field stepping up in trip and likely favourite Aleatrics dropping back in distance. Sir Mark Prescott's charge appeared to need every yard of Hamilton's mile and a half when successful last time out, so coming back a couple of furlongs may not be ideal. With that in mind, we'll take him on with another top-weight, Nayarna.
Avant Gardiste also has a fair load to lumber when he appears at Newton Abbot but with almost twelve stones to carry, Tom Scudamore's mount will hopefully not notice The Scotsman nap adding an additional burden.
The first couple of results at Perth yesterday suggested the huge crowd in attendance were in for a very profitable afternoon with Jim Goldie's Regent's Secret and Irish raider Franc Villez justifying their positions as market leaders in the opening two events.
Later on the card, Charlie Crab did likewise with a gutsy success but it wasn't all good news with four favourites going down. The Lucinda Russell-trained Gray Mountain, Tom's Toybox, Mount Usher and Russian War, who completed a double for Gordon Elliott when lifting the bumper,
were the ones who came out on top against the jollies
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