Leader In The Park put in a lovely round of jumping to see off the strongly fancied Nicky Henderson horse, who attracted market support throughout the morning. Ben Jones didn't panic when Nico took the lead, he stalked the leader and applied the pressure down the back straight, which paid off in the end as his mount jumped better and stayed on nicely, with the main thread in the dying stages coming from the Sean Bowen horse under a power-packed Bowen drive.
Rizzel's tips
Big Zouk 16/1 EW – Ayr 1.00
As far as Ayr Maiden races go, this looks like a strong renewal and one which will chuck up plenty of winners. As a result, you can get some big odds on Big Zouk who is not fancied in the market but could be worth giving a chance given how strongly fancied he was in the market on his first run for James Ewart.
It's strange to see both Jo Coko and Big Zouk racing in the same race as they are owned by the same connections, and given that they bought the pair for £105,000 (Jo Coko) and £160,000 (Big Zouk), they'd want to keep them separate. The pair of horses made their stable and rules debuts days apart from each other, which saw Jo Coko come first and put in a big performance to finish second, recording a decent RPR at the time. Big Zouk was punted off the boards, going below EVS at some stages, but eventually going off at EVS, but was very disappointing, looking more like a stayer, so the step up to today's trip of 3m isn't a surprise. On performances, it's not hard to see why Jo Coko is shorter in the market, but given Big Zouk was the more expensive horse, combining that with them putting him up in trip against his ownermate, I think they are expecting a different type of performance this time around, and at the prices of 16/1, he is worth an each-way bet.
It's very easy to opt for the Irish raider who has the best form in the race and is trained by a guy who does very well when sending his runners to the UK, but we do see a lot of his shorter-priced horses, in these colours, flop on a regular basis.
My Kiwi Girl 15/8 – Ayr 1.30
I think this market is priced up all wrong, and it's mainly because of past results of when Fergal O'Brien has sent horses up to Scotland. In recent years, whenever he sends one this far, they have to be highly respected, but this year it has been a different story, not only in Scotland but in general his yard hasn't been firing in winners at the same strike rate that we've known for Fergal, so I think his horse is far too short and is not the correct favourite.
In my opinion, off hurdling form, My Kiwi Girl should be the clear favourite and it's a surprise that she opened up at 7/2, as I would've ripped your hand off to get that price now. My only concern is the jockey booking of Richie McLernon. I am a big fan of Richie in the saddle, so it's not like I don't want him on my selection, it's because N W Alexander's usual jockey Bruce Lynn is riding at this meeting but isn't on this horse, and given Richie McLernon has only ridden once for this yard, it raises a few eyebrows, but maybe connections feel like this is the man for the job as he is a cool customer.
This horse has produced the highest RPRs in the race, and by a decent margin, but she finds herself being second favourite to the Fergal O'Brien horse. I'm not saying that the form is strong, and there is a chance that a newcomer could blow this field away, but on all known form, my selection has put up the best results. She was 4th/12 at this venue in a decent race behind some good horses, which has seen the third horse come out and win on his next start, as well as the runner-up winning since.
The Snowden horse is one to be wary of as she was a decent bumper horse, and should improve from her first start over hurdles.
Gaillimh A Stor 7/2 – Ayr 2.30
I feel like Gaillimh A Stor will be a drifter in the market, but unfortunately, B.O.G overnight doesn't exist and the thread has to be up the day night before, but If you were to follow I'd suggest waiting till the morning as I think you'll get a better price. My reason for that is that I can see people going against the top weight, with Lady In The Park as a usual candidate for being strong in the market and with horses arriving with wins next to their names, they will likely take up a lot of the market bias.
However, I think the current market favourite has a fair amount to prove. He is coming off a 191-day absence but also has to prove he is just as effective on a slower surface. He racked up two wins at Perth on good summer jumping ground in lesser races, but he has been installed as the favourite, not for me. Chasingouttheblues has to prove he can operate off a career-high mark and in a better race, which I think he'll struggle at this trip. I think Lady In The Park isn't as good as people think she is at this level, she is far too inconsistent and despite being back over hurdles for the second run in a row, is she on a low enough mark? I'm not totally sold.
My selection has to shoulder twelve stone, which isn't ideal, but he has the best form in the race, so I am more than happy to back him on the back of his recent second in a Class 3 contest at this track. The N W Alexander horse was a head defeat to O'Toole who was rated 127 and recorded an RPR of 131, with the front two pulling 6.5L clear of the third. I think that's solid form, and given this horse has clearly had a big setback shown by his 627-day absence prior to his two runs this season, there is a strong possibility that he wasn't 100% last time out, and if that's the case, this looks a nice race for him to win.
