Racing is back at Ayr this weekend as the track gets set to host its Unite Scotland Summer Raceday on Saturday, June 22, with a bumper eight-race card on offer. 

The action-packed card gets under way at 4.10pm with a maiden stakes in class four for the newcomers and inexperienced horses, before rounding off at 7.55pm with a classified stakes contest in class six. 

Up first is the class four maiden stakes for two-year-olds, held over the six furlong distance at 4.10pm.

Eve’s Boy was undone by an odds-on favourite on debut at Carlisle last month and is taken to improve to get off the winning mark at Ayr ahead of Big Cyril, third on debut on his first spin in a Yarmouth minor outing late last month. 

Race two on the card (4.45pm) sees seven runners head to the stalls for the class four handicap over five furlongs.

The preference here is for Jordan Electrics, a four-time course winner at Ayr who clearly loves the place, and landed a career-best when scoring in a six-runner handicap at Hamilton earlier this month, so is very much the one to beat for trainer Jim Goldie. 

The third race of the evening. at 5.25pm,  is a seven-runner handicap in class five over the longer extended seven furlong distance.

Gundogan is very respected in this one for trainer Ed Bethell, having finished second on handicap debut just over a fortnight ago at Haydock.

Of his rivals, Eminent Jewel could be the play for trainer Richard Fahey, getting off the mark in a Wetherby handicap earlier this month after six months off, and is the type to improve for that run further. 

Ten runners will take on the 1m 5f distance at 5.55pm in a class two handicap, race four on the card.

Iron Lion and Divina Grace locked horns at Haydock a fortnight ago with the former getting the better of the latter then, however the tables can turn in Divina Grace’s favour here being 6lb better off in the weights so has to be taken seriously to reverse the form. 

The feature race of the day arrives at 6.25pm in the form of the £50,000 Land O’Burns Listed Fillies’ Stakes, a class one contest and one of the fastest held at Ayr throughout the season over the five furlong sprint distance.

Course and distance winner Beautiful Diamond, trained by Karl Burke, was below form in the Temple Stakes at Haydock last time out and is back down in class here and could well have too much for her rivals. 

Of the eight other runners in the race, Azure Blue rates as the clear chief threat for trainer Michael Dods on previous form, but does need to bounce back from a couple of below-par outings. If she can then she should be bang in there with a chance. 

Things calm down a bit for race six, as division one in class five hosts a six furlong handicap with ten runners at 6.55pm.

Be Proud, trained by Jim Goldie, is the selection as he is now 1lb lower in the weights than when scoring at this track last Autumn.

Sacred Falls is the selection for the penultimate race on the card at 7.25pm in division two of the same class as the previous race, with Kevin Scott’s four-year-old a previous course and distance winner who was third in a Hamilton handicap ten days ago to represent the best form on offer here. 

Finally, the card comes to a close with the 13-runner classified stakes in class six (7.55pm) and preference here heads to Coconut Bay, a winner of am all-weather 12-runner handicap at Wolverhampton last time time who out who is zero for seven on turf but is on a very lenient mark back on grass. 

Ayr selections: Saturday, June 22 (via Betway)

  • 4.10pm - Eve’s Boy
  • 4.45pm - Jordan Electrics
  • 5.25pm - Eminent Jewel
  • 5.55pm - Divina Grace
  • 6.25pm - Beautiful Diamond
  • 6.55pm - Be Proud
  • 7.25pm - Sacred Falls
  • 7.55pm - Coconut Bay