DAY two of Ayr’s Gold Cup Festival this week arrives on Friday with a seven-race card on offer in the build-up to the big day on Saturday. 

Racing gets underway on Friday with a Fillies’ Nursery contest at 2.03pm before the action on day two comes to a close at 5.20pm with a big-field 15-runner handicap in class five. 

Read below to discover the latest tips and a full preview of Friday’s card courtesy of Grosvenor Sport. 

The opening contest on Friday (2.03) sees a field of ten head to the stalls for the seven furlong fillies’ nursery and Cymbidium for trainer David O’Meara looks the one to beat having made a big leap forward when landing a Thirsk nursery a fortnight ago. She has to defy a 5lb rise in the weights here for that success but it looks to be a rise she’s capable of shouldering. 

Race two on the card (2.33) is another nursery contest, this time in class two and a field of nine will tackle the six furlong trip. Preference here is for Bonnie’s Boy for trainer Richard Fahey, who has finished runner up on all three starts so far and a mark of 80 here is probably underestimating him so should be able to stick his head in front for the first time. Of his rivals, Our Mighty Mo rates the main danger off the back of a nursery win at Hamilton on his last spin. 

The Listed Harry Rosebery Stakes marks race three on the card (3.05) and the Simon and Ed Crisford-trained Coto De Caza should take all the beating, improving with each of her three runs to land back-to-back wins at Beverley and Goodwood so has strong claims of completing the hat trick here. Kaadi for trainer Karl Burke is the main threat, a winner at Windsor in April and was also a good second in the Prix d’Arenberg at Longchamp 19 days ago.

A field of 13 will head to the stalls to take on the Listed Fillies’ and Mares’ Stakes at 3.40 to mark the halfway point of Friday’s card. Frost At Dawn was thrown into the Group 1 Nunthorpe at York on her last run and went about as expected when finishing tenth, but the form of her outings at Meydan in Dubai entitles her to plenty of respect here. Woodhay Wonder should be bang up there as well, a winner of three of her last four starts as a juvenile and picked up this season with two seconds in Newmarket handicaps. 

The Ayr Bronze Cup handicap is the feature race on the card and a massive field of 25 are set to tackle the six furlong sprint in class two (4.15). Course and distance winner Monsieur Kodi has hit a wall since winning at Goodwood last year but with a 3lb claiming jockey on-board, and having shaped well in the Great St Wilfrid at Ripon last time out, could be the one to beat at Ayr. Last year’s runner up in this race, Cold Stare, can give him most to think about having had a path plotted for this meeting, while Monsieur Kodi’s stablemate Havana Rum is of interest for the Fahey team. 

Jewel Maker gets the nod in the penultimate race of day two of the Festival in the class five handicap over a mile (4.45), a winner at Pontefract in July and a good third at Redcar 27 days ago, while the finale on Friday (5.20) can go the way of L’Eagle Aid, who was an eased-home winner of a five-runner Catterick contest last time out to roar back to form for trainer Charlie Johnston. 

Ayr selections - Friday

  • 2.03 - Cymbidium
  • 2.33 - Bonnie’s Boy
  • 3.05 - Coto De Caza
  • 3.40 - Frost at Dawn
  • 4.15 - Monsieur Kodi
  • 4.45 - Jewel Maker
  • 5.20 - L’Eagle Aid