Jump Racing - Friday 20th Apr 2012

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« 4:00 » Ayr FRI 20 APR 2012 HILLHOUSE QUARRY HANDICAP CHASE (CLASS 2) (5yo+) Winner £15,640 Good 2m4f Number of runners: 10 DIVERS 4pts to win @ 11/4 bog (Bet365) Bad efforts this winter but was primed up to flourish this spring (as often happens with the horses from this yard) and was strongly fancied in the Byrne Group Plate at the Cheltenham Festival were he raced well to finish 4th. He had won 2011 Centenary Novices' Handicap at the same Festival and he tried to repeat his win in the race making a bold bid but he hit the flight 3 out and could not sustain a promising forward move, losing two places on the run-in. Still that was a very good effort and here Divers is back to a way easier task imho with the biggest threat being Gansey who finished well behind him in the Byrne Group Plate at the Cheltenham Festival and can't see him reversing that form especially since he was also held by Torphichen last time out at Haydock and would probably need way more rain (6 wins all on softer than good). Torphichen is only 1lb higher than his second at Haydock last time out but finds it difficult to win off this kind of marks nowadays while The Knoxs represents Paul Nicholls but has plenty to prove after 3 poor efforts even if he's rated 11lb higher over hurdles so could still have more to offer chasing. Woody Waller is a solid performer (3 times second in a row this season before finishing 5th last time out) but there is some doubts about the distance (raced mainly over 2m) and doesn't win that often. So all in all strong chance for Divers with AP McCoy back on board.

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Re: Jump Racing - Friday 20th Apr 2012 « 4:35 » Ayr FRI 20 APR 2012 EQUINITY POWERED BY GARMIN NOVICES´ LIMITED HANDICAP CHASE (CLASS 3) (5yo+ 0-135) Winner £6,498 Good 2m Number of runners: 5 KAI BROON 5pts to win @ 6/5 (Bluesquare) Strong chance for this 5yo trained by Lucinda Russell. Kai Broon finished second behind the smart stablemate Degas Art in his second last start and went one better last time out when he won in very nice style at Kelso 18 days ago. The 10lb rise seems more than fair as he is still rated 115 and the way he won last time out he surely left the impression he could soon be a 125-rated horse at least. He has to face a couple of good novices like Shadrack and Red Tanber but both look more exposed and flattered by their actual marks of 127 and 123 and this should be an easy win for the Lucinda Russell's horse if he can reproduce the form of his last effort.