Sam King is back with three selections on Thursday.
Whilst Yarmouth's three-day Eastern Festival comes to a close, Ayr's feature Gold Cup meeting gets underway and there's plenty of action for punters to get stuck into this afternoon.
Powerful southern yards will be ready launch multiple raids at the Scottish venue over the course of the three days and unsurprisingly given the excellent prize money that is on offer.
The best bet on the opening card is the Stuart Williams-trained Crowd Quake (2.45), who has been one of the stories of the season when it comes to progressive handicappers.
A four-year-old son of Night Of Thunder, Crowd Quake has gone up a staggering 36lb in the handicap since gaining his first success at Windsor back in May. Since then, he's recorded six wins and filled the runner-up spot on a further three occasions.
A commanding all-the-way winner of a competitive Racing League handicap on the all-weather at Southwell last month, Stuart Williams' charge since bumped into a progressive three-year-old when suffering a narrow defeat at Doncaster.
He's due to go up 5lb for that latest effort so it's no surprise that connections opt to turn him out off the same mark here. Marco Ghiani knows him well and with this track expected to suit, he could take some pegging back as he takes on plenty of rivals with opposite profiles to himself.
1pt Win – Crowd Quake
Odds – 9/4
In the proceeding contest, Your Love looks like an interesting contender for the Richard Spencer and Rebel Racing team, who both enjoyed notable success at this meeting twelve months ago with Listed winner Candy.
A nicely-bred daughter of the gutsy Coventry Stakes course record holder Rajasinghe, Your Love showed clear ability in her three qualifying runs, shaping well to finish runner-up when well-backed on debut earlier in the season before third place finishes at Wolverhampton and Southwell.
All three of her starts to date have come over six furlongs on the artificial, but it's clear, just like her sire, that she's not short of natural speed.
This drop back to five furlongs on ground that has plenty of juice in it could bring out some further improvement and if that's the case, she might prove dangerously treated off an opening mark of 70 for a yard amongst the winners.
1pt win – Your Love
Odds – 8/1
Over at Yarmouth, Coyy (2.00) went into the tracker following his promising debut at Newbury earlier in the season and remains of interest now stepping into nurseries following two further qualifying runs.
The form of his Newbury debut hasn't exactly stacked up to the rooftops, but the winner is now rated 87, the runner-up has won his only next outing at Kempton, and the fifth-place horse has also scored since, so there's some substance to it.
He probably wasn't seen to the best effect when beaten just over five lengths into eighth by subsequent Richmond Stakes scorer and the 109-rated Coppull at Leicester on his second outing, while he also ran to a similar level when third behind a subsequent winner at Windsor in May.
It's likely that he just needed some time to strengthen up both physically and mentally, so it's no shock to see him return here following 122 days off the track. He might just relax a bit better now that he's been gelded as well and although an opening mark of 77 is no gimme, he remains of interest for a trainer in the shape of Eve Johnston Houghton who is enjoying a fine season with her juveniles.
1pt Win – Coyy
Odds – 6/1
