Scots secure four winners at Ayr

Jim Goldie: 'Horses in form'. Picture: Kate Chandler

Keith Dalgleish set the ball rolling when Dark Defender won the opening six-furlong maiden stakes at 14-1 under a confident ride from Phillip Makin.

A superb late surge saw Goldie’s Funding Deficit (12-1), the mount of Fergal Lynch, land the seven-furlong Bet totetrifect Handicap and later in the card the Uplawmoor trainer and Irish jockey teamed up again when Tiger Jim won the £8,000-plus prize in the feature race, the  six-furlong mytotepool.com Handicap.

Goldie, who also saw his Dhaular Dhar win at Thirsk, said: “That was a good spell with three winners in the space of a couple of hours. The horses are coming into form at the right time, with Jack Dexter running at Royal Ascot next week.”

Lucy Normile’s Royal Duchess, sent off the 15-8 favourite, recovered from a bad start to win the totepool Betting On All UK Racing Handicap under Sammy Jo Bell, who said: “My foot came out the irons at the start and I almost fell off. Thankfully, I recovered and she’s won well.”

Today, at Salisbury, Hugo Palmer looks to have found a nice opportunity for Galileo Gold to go one better than on his debut when he contests the Bathwick Tyres Maiden Auction Stakes.

The son of Paco Boy looked a surefire future winner when running a blinder on his career opener at York.

Up against some rivals  with previous experience, he shaped with a huge amount of promise when second to Age  Of Empire.

The Richard Hannon-trained winner had already run behind Royal Ascout-bound Zebstar, while the third, Tawakkol, was having his fourth outing.

Galileo Gold met some interference at a crucial stage and, although it would be stretching things to suggest he may have won, he would certainly have finished closer than the two and three-quarter lengths he was beaten. His dam is a half-sister to the smart sprinter, Goldream, and he looks like £24,000  well spent.

Galileo Gold runs in the second division of the maiden and in the first better can be expected of Hannon’s Racquet. The trainer seems to have changed tack with his juveniles this season and rather than having them all ready to run for their lives first time out, a large proportion are improving  for their first experience.  Racquet can be another.