Johnston makes Mark with smart Ayr winner
Plenty to take from a packed month
backed up her Ayr win by landing a Listed contest at Sandown last Thursday. I hope you were on.
Also thriving in July was the horse Nicholas T who won his third contest of the month when landing Ayr’s feature race on Monday the Ayrshire Cancer Support Handicap.
Jim Goldie’s seven year old was held up and came with a late flourish to deny Hortzadar and win by a neck.
A delighted jockey Ben Robinson told me: “We’ve just hit it off. He always just does enough and we get on great.”
Goldie now plans to run Nicholas T in the Shergar Cup at Ascot on August 10 and could also have a tilt at the Cambridgeshire in late September while a crack at the Kilkerran Cup at the William Hill Ayr Gold Cup Festival is also a possibility.
That was the horse’s sixth win in all at Ayr and he certainly has been a horse to follow at the track.
His odds on Monday were a very generous 11- 1.
A short priced winner was the Sir Mark Prescott trained Land Of Oz who won the Weddings At Western House Hotel Handicap over 2m 1f in impressive fashion.
I spoke to jockey Luke Morris after the race and he told me this was a “proper horse” and that he will now be stepped up in class.
He certainly looks the type of animal that Prescott can produce a string of wins with.
Interestingly Land Of Oz was one of five runners the stable had entered in the two mile handicap at Nottingham on Thursday.
He won’t run now but whatever Sir Mark opts to saddle in this race, due off at 5.10pm, should be backed. One of the top jockeys in Hong Kong Vincent C. Y. rode his first ever Ayr winner when Forever A Lady came with a late run on the stand rails to win the Watch On Racing TV Handicap over six furlongs.
The Keith Dalgleish trainer mare benefitted greatly from a drop back in trip and was given a great ride from Ho who is spending a month with Mark Johnston in Middleham. July has come and gone with five meetings and lots of races at Ayr and umpteen talking points and pointers for the future.
I thought I’d take this opportunity to mull over a few things and mention what I thought was an excellent month’s racing.
In terms of standout performances I think the best was from Club Wexford in winning the Weddings At Western House Hotel Handicap on Glasgow Fair Monday.
The Roger Fell trained eight year- old had always won a Class 2 race here in June and his front running tactics are suited to the track. His young jockey Ben Sanderson got a tune out of him and he won by three quarters of a length with Nicholas T in second.
It was the only time the Jim Goldie horse, mentioned elsewhere on this page, was beaten at the track in four starts here in July.
On the same card the two year- old filly Walk In Marrakesh also won and I have highlighted her subsequent success in the main story on this page.
Another juvenile who shone in July at Ayr was the Keith Dalgleish trained Volatile Analyst who won the maiden on the 8 th of the month and who is due to run in the Richmond Stakes at Glorious Goodwood today ( Thursday).
If this colt lines up be sure to be on.
One of the best handicap wins came from the Tim Easterby trained Neileta on July 7 and this gelding can go on to run up a sequence of wins.
My final thoughts from a busy month’s racing is to back Makyon, the winner of the first rece on Monday, if he lines up in the Harry Rosebery Stakes, Listed race on September 20.