Friday Racing Tips: Go for gold with Bronze Cup 12/1 pick at Ayr

Friday, Ayr, 14:30, Harry Rosebery Stakes Tip: Back Hickory Lad @ 6/42.50

4 (7)

Hickory Lad (Ire)

• J: Sam James
• T: Phillip Makin
• F: 2121383

• SBK 6/4
• EXC 2.76

Ayr's famous old Western meeting got underway on Thursday and thankfully I am not dealing with the mountain of Jim Goldie runners for Friday.

Fear not readers, there was one in the antepost column this week!

The 14:30 Listed Harry Rosebery Stakes doesn't tend to attract the powerhouse Newmarket yards and Phil Makin's Hickory Lad should be able to justify a 6/42.50 price.

Makin was a winner of this race in the saddle back in 2016 riding Clem Fandango. We heard him alright that day, and the fact a Richard Fahey runner is the second favourite in opposition only gives me more confidence.

I like Fahey as a trainer and while he had a winner in the Thursday opener, he's going through a a fairly lean season. Okay, 55 winners in the calendar year, but he's been very quiet for long spells and his Mussab represents the yard at a strike-rate in the last two weeks of just 6%.

Hickory Lad was a dominant winner of the Woodcote earlier in the season at Epsom and for a first try at 6f he flew solo and no one caught him to score by 3L.

His subsequent two runs over 6f were blanks but he found a bit of form again at York at the Ebor meeting in a Listed race behind Sale Shark.

It was an odd sort of performance on the Knavesmire, as he was so fast and quick out of the gates at Epsom and looked far better making the running, yet at York he seemed to get behind and also in a poor position more towards the far of the group.

That was a well run race, as they tend to be at York, and the finish speed at 98% saw him run the fastest final furlong at 12.37. With that to translate to a long straight at Ayr, and perhaps reverting to front-running tactics, that's our best shot of starting the day on the front foot.

Friday, Ayr, 15:05, Arran Scottish Sprint Ebf Fillies' Stakes Tip: Back Lady Youmzain EW @ 9/110.00

12 (13)

Lady Youmzain (Ire)

• J: Tom Eaves
• T: Kevin Ryan
• F: 1-132

• SBK 9/1
• EXC 9.2

Beautiful Diamond is back again to defend her Aran Scottish EBF Fillies Stakes crown and produced a marmalade dropper of a performance in the race 12 months ago to score by over 2L.

That was her third win out of three at Ayr for the duchess of the course, but her unbeaten record went last time in a messy old scrap with the field split into two and they finished in a bit of a heap.

Her third in the Group 2 Temple clearly is a bit of a standout, but sprint form these days is like scoring goals in the Dutch top flight, like dog years.

She loves soft, and when it rains, just apply those suction nozzles and she's off.

With a deep race, though, and without a win this year, the 6/42.50 doesn't quite excite me with the potential to play something at a bigger price each-way.

Lady Youmzain does it for me each-way here. And with four places.

At 17/29.50 initially, she went out to 9/110.00 on Thursday evening. That's big as she's unexposed, and less exposed than most and has also shown an ability to act with cut in the grass.

She was a winner on debut at Beverley last term as a juvenile - smashing an Amo runner by 5L with the times indicating heavy.

Her travel style was eyecatching too; as she rounded the field on the outside and unleashed a fairly loping stride. Then we failed to see her afterwards.

This year it's three runs and a Ted Rogers 1, 3, 2, with the win at Pontefract achieved in different style when making the running. At that stage she was two-from-two.

I wouldn't be too downbeat on her run at Sandown last time in the Scurry. The ground might have been a little quick for her (might have) and she tried to make the running against a Godolphin winner and an Amo horse, with the Amo horse Poatan winning since from a mark of 97.

Ayr is a little more conventional compared to Sandown and I am hoping we get soft conditions and more rain, but she is an each-way price at 9/110.00.

Like Richard Fahey, Kevin Ryan has had a fairly quiet term with 40 winners (15 less than Fahey in 2025) and a spell in the last two weeks interlarded with plenty of losers (3-37 at 8%).

But the price compensates a little more for a good run.

Friday, Ayr, 15:40 Ladbrokes Ayr Bronze Cup Tip: Back U Sure Do EW six places @ 12/113.00

9 (13)

U Sure Do (Ire)

• J: Jake Dickson
• T: Tim Easterby
• F: 012-41698

• SBK 12/1
• EXC 10

With six places on the Sportsbook for Friday's Ayr Bronze Cup, U Sure Do for Tim Easterby comes into my reckoning as a horse with plenty of form in soft and conditions and on Thursday were according to Timeform it was very much soft.

Indeed, Bristol De Mai might have been at home in the slop.

U Sure Do also has the profile I like for the Ayr Cups, as he stays 7f too so it's time to test my own personal theory.

Since a Ripon victory in the spring over 6f, he hasn't fired. At Hamilton in August he ended up perhaps on the wrong side and wasn't exactly given a hard race when beaten. A defeat at Chester can be excused in trap 11 while his latest run over 7f he didn't exactly have a clear shot at the race as he was tight for room over the far side.

All that means he's still floating on a mid-80s mark and drawn in 13 here could see him right down the centre of the track - and from Thursday, that might not be a bad place to be.

I also rate Jake Dickson, who claims 5lb and having got quite far behind at York last time, a new addition of headgear can perk him up.

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