Portland winner Poet's Place among 173 Ayr Gold Cup hopes

The five-year-old shot to the head of the betting for the competitive Scottish sprint with a ready victory in Saturday's Ladbrokes Portland.

Most of the other major contenders have stood their ground, with the likes of Jim Goldie's Hawkeyethnoo, Victoire De Lyphar, Genki and Jonny Mudball all in the reckoning.

Dandy Nicholls has his anticipated strong hand with Evens And Odds and Tajneed among a host of entries for the Thirsk handler. Richard Fahey is another trainer who has made multiple confirmations, with joint-top-weight Kaldoun Kingdom and Castles In The Air still in the frame.

Roger Charlton is sweating on the participation of Definightly, a stablemate of Genki.

The four-year-old sprinter hacked up in a Listed heat at Goodwood on Saturday but could still miss the cut for the valuable handicap.

"Definightly needs ten to come out at Ayr after confirmation stage," Charlton said on Twitter. "Definightly is bouncing this morning - very fresh. Adam Beschizza has been booked to ride him - hoping he gets in."

Two notable absentees are Dever Dream, a winner at Doncaster last week for Willie Haggas, and the Michael Jarvis-trained Harry Patch.

Jarvis said: "Harry Patch has a setback which will keep him off the track for two weeks, but we hope to have him out before the end of the season."

At Musselburgh yesterday, Fremen notched his fourth win at the course this season. The shortest-priced market leader of the day, Janet's Pearl, duly did the business for jockey Silvestre de Sousa at odds of 4-9 in the seller. It was trainer Ann Duffield's second successive winner on the card, Salerosa having won the opener for Paul Mulrennan at 8-1.