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Racing Ayr's Gold and Silver Cups all to play for this afternoon

IF HANDICAPS are your thing, then there is plenty to get your teeth stuck into today with the Ayr Gold and Silver Cups at the West of Scotland track this afternoon.

The main event at 3.50 looks sure to be run on stamina-sapping ground for these speedsters and there are several runners that will relish conditions, but perhaps none more so than GROWL who was racing in group company last year and has run a series of brilliant races in these big handicaps without getting the ground conditions he needs.

He is still very feasibly treated and, if getting a run through in the closing stages, I can see the old boy going very close as long as the ground stays on the soft side.

Of course there are any number of dangers to him, including stablemate Brian The Snail, Muntadab, the mud-loving Get Knotted and lightweight Upstaging.

The consolation race, the Silver Cup due off at 2.40, also looks as competitive as ever, but I will be having two bets against the field in the form of the well-weighted AL QAHWA and top-weight BENGALI BOYS.

The last named has been unable to show his best this season because of the fine summer and prevailing fast ground, but now the rains have come, he could well show his class in this grade.

It is worth noting that he has only visited the race track on 10 occasions and as such remains open to further improvement and his form on soft ground is right up with the best of these.

Of course, as with the Gold Cup, we can merely guess as far as the draw is concerned, but he has a few confirmed front-runners on his side and as such should get a really good tow through the contest.

Al Qahwa is another mud lover and he actually has some good form with a few horses running in the feature contest and as such would not have been out of place in the Gold Cup.

His mark this season has dropped from 98 to 94, but he showed his turn was close at hand when coming home nicely to finish sixth of 26 in a classy sprint at the Curragh last time out. There is more to come from him this season now that the rains have come and a double figure price makes him of huge each-way interest.

Outside the two big sprints I fancy a big run from FIRELIGHT in the Firth of Clyde Stakes at 3.15, while the seven furlong finale at 4.55 could well go to RIGHT ACTION (nb) who finished placed here on the opening day of the meeting on Thursday.

Over at Newbury, there are several Cambridgeshire hopefuls entered in the feature handicap, the Dubai Duty Free Handicap at 1.45.

I think we have yet to see the best of several of these but, as long as the ground isn’t too quick, STYLEHUNTER can land this valuable prize for John Gosden and Frankie Dettori.

The Legacy Stakes at 2.20 may go to the one-time Derby hope YOUNG RASCAL, while the best bet in the Group Two Mill Reef Stakes at  2.55 could be the Andrew Balding-trained SHINE SO BRIGHT.   

Finally, take a look at the evening card at Wolverhampton under the lights and have a second glance at the claims of KODILINE (6.45) and HOWARDIAN HILLS (nap) at 7.45.

The first named has tumbled down the handicap and has an outstanding chance of returning to winning form here, while the latter ran out a clear-cut winner at Kempton Park last time out and is equally as effective around here.

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