Wannabe King’s Ayr show heartens Harker at Ayr

Geoff Harker was delighted to see Wannabe King come back to form with a surprise victory in the Tennent’s Lager Handicap at Ayr.

The six-year-old was rated in excess of 100 this time two years ago but following a disappointing run of results, Harker bought him out of David Lanigan’s yard for just 13,000 guineas last October. He ran creditably in a conditions race at Ripon on his debut for new connections in April, but two subsequent starts in handicaps offered little promise.

He was unsurprisingly a 20-1 shot for Ayr’s feature event, but capably handled by 7lb claimer Jordan Nason, he turned in a much improved display to beat Crown Counsel by two-and-a-quarter lengths.

“I left the blinkers off him last time because he wasn’t enjoying his racing and we just bombed him and let him enjoy himself and he came back from that race really good,” said Harker. “We put the visor back on him today and he’s just travelled really well and hopefully he’s turned a corner.”

Jockey Joe Fanning continued his good run of form with a 167-1 treble on the card. The rider kicked off his hat-trick when guiding top-weight Chookie Avon to victory in the Jack Daniels Tennessee Honey Handicap.

Fanning brought Keith Dalgleish’s 6-1 chance with a well-timed run to beat favourite Giorgio’s Dragon by half a length.

Fanning and Dalgleish doubled up with 5-1 shot Frequency in the Courvoisier VSOP Handicap, while the middle leg of the jockey’s treble was the Mark Johnston-trained Ukrainian (3-1 favourite) in the Coca-Cola Handicap.