DOUBLE HANDFUL

THE Ayr Gold Cup is one of the oldest races in the racing calendar, as well as one of the most difficult to decipher. Punters could throw a dart at practically any horse in the 25-runner field and they’d have a chance of hitting the jackpot, although I could never condone chucking arrows at animals.

The tag of favourite is likely to be contested by Buffer Zone and Gulliver, who finished first and third at the Curragh last Sunday.

I can see Gulliver being the shorter price after seeing a few shrewd tipsters press his claims this week.

David O‘Meara’s five-year-old showed a good turn of foot to finish with a wet sail after getting boxed in last week. He was only two lengths behind Buffer Zone and is getting an extra 4lb off him, so it’s easy to see why his price is shortening, especially since O’Meara won this race with Louis The Pious in 2014.

But you need a lot of luck to win this race and my main concern for Gulliver and Buffer Zone is that the race at the Curragh was run in a slow time.

The pace at the start of this race will be more frenetic, and that won’t suit Gulliver.

Besides, this is not the race to back favourites, even if Son Of Rest (5-1f) was a deadheat winner last year. Since 1980 there have been only three winning favourites, so I’ll be chancing my arm with something lower down the market — BACCHUS. Five-year-olds have the best record in this race and Brian Meehan’s charge looks to have gone under the radar.

He’s only 1lb higher since winning the Wokingham Stakes last year over today’s distance on good to firm ground.

He’s not done much since in four subsequent runs but he does go well fresh (he hadn’t run for eight months when winning the Wokingham) and is attractively priced on his best form.