Angel swoops for a golden winner at Ayr
Indeed the only people at the track as happy as Owen and his pals were the bookies who couldn’t keep the smiles of their faces as one of the biggest gambles in the history of the race came unstuck.
The money came in torrents for the Irish trained Buffer Zone, winner of a valuable sprint at the Curragh six days earlier and who was sent off at the ridiculously short odds of 100- 30, but as that horse’s effort petered out and our friends in the betting ring urgently called Securicor to come and lift their bulging satchels, Angel Alexander pounced.
The 28- 1 shot was one of six horses racing on the stands side and who better to describe the race than his ecstatic jockey Richard Kingscote.
“I knew Tom ( Eaves) would try to make it all on Major Jumbo who has plenty early speed so I just followed him and got a great tow into the race”, said Richard.
“I hit the front plenty soon and he wandered a bit but I put my stick down and he straightened up. These big handicaps are hard to win so I’m just going to savour the moment.”
The first thing co- owner Steve Mound did after the presentation was to call the Parkstone Hotel in Prestwick and book rooms for the night so he could continue the celebrations.
He said : “Michael was the only one of the group who couldn’t make it and we’d been staying at the Parkstone but were going to head home after the race. That’s changed now we’re going to party.”
Earlier in the afternoon Golden Apollo landed the William Hill Ayr Silver Cup for trainer Tim Easterby and jockey David Allan.
For a long time in this contest it looked as though Paul Hanagan would prevail on Gabrial The Saint but Allan’s mount wore them down and despite the Dr Marwan Koukash- owned horse rallying, Golden Apollo struck silver by a neck.
Easterby also addled the winner of Friday’s William Hill Ayr Bronze Cup when Music Society cruised through to win by a length and a half.
The only people as happy as Owen and his pals were the bookies