GOLD CUP BOSSED BY BIELSA
BIELSA was his own man to the end as he saved the bookies’ skins in the Virgin Bet Ayr Gold Cup.
Punters made the Ed Walker-trained Great Ambassador the 3-1 market leader – in a field of 24 – to land the £77,310 first prize.
And favourite backers were on good terms with themselves as Richard Kingscote’s mount moved with menace towards the far side in the six-furlong test.
But they reckoned without Kevin Stott and Bielsa – like namesake Marcelo Bielsa’s Leeds United, without a victory in five attempts this season – who raced alone under the stands’ rail to record a two-and-a-quarter-length margin and give trainer Kevin Ryan a fifth triumph in the race.
“We went out with the plan of going straight up that rail,” said the winning jockey. “It was fresh ground up there, so we thought, ‘Why not?’
“Getting him into the right rhythm is the key.
“It was a bit hard to judge but, coming towards the line, I did have a quick look across to see if we were clear or not,
and luckily we were a couple of lengths clear.”
Ryan, previously successful with Advanced (2007), Our Jonathan (2011), Captain Ramius (2012) and Brando (2016), added: “They were all Group horses – and this is a Group horse.”
In other action at Ayr, Hollie Doyle and
Nazanin claimed a last-gasp victory in the Virgin Bet Firth of Clyde Fillies’ Stakes.
A field of 14 juvenile fillies went to post for the Group Three contest, with the Archie Watson-trained Nazanin a 16-1 shot.
Deep inside the final furlong, the main of the action took place on the far side of the track, with Canonized locked in battle with Hala Hala Athmani and Irish raider Head Mistress.
But ploughing a lone furrow down the centre, Doyle and Nazanin finished with a flourish to get up and deny Canonized by a short head, with Hala Hala Athmani and Head Mistress close up in third and fourth respectively.
Maydanny ran out a clear-cut winner of the Virgin Bet Doonside Cup.
Impressive when landing the Golden Mile at Goodwood earlier in the summer, Mark Johnston’s charge had since disappointed in handicap company at York and in the Group Three Superior Mile at Haydock.
Stepping up to a mile and a quarter for the first time, the 9-2 chance tracked the pacesetting The Flying Ginger for much of the way before pulling clear in the hands of Joe Fanning.