Friday Racing Tips: Dan Skelton is the trainer to follow at Ayr

Jump racing holds sway across Britain and Ireland on Friday with seven meetings taking place across the afternoon and into the evening. First off is Ayr before they go to Fontwell, Newbury, Bath, Exeter, Limerick and Ballinrobe. 

Amongst our Friday fancies is one for trainer Dan Skelton, who is bidding for three wins on the bounce at a meeting the yard does very well at. 

14:50 Ayr - Jet Plane @ 4/1 

Like the majority of the Dan Skelton runners this spring, JET PLANE has improved markedly, and he is taken to bring up the hat-trick in the 2m4½f handicap chase for a stable that cleans up at this Ayr meeting in recent years.  

Sent off the complete outsider of the field at Sandown on his penultimate start, the eight-year-old overcame some jumping errors and rattled home to win in the manner of a well handicapped horse. 

Given he stays much further, there were question marks surrounding how effective he would be over this sort of trip, but he quashed those doubts when bolting up at Market Rasen over 2m3f last week. The handicapper has been very lenient on him, and he can score again. 

15:55 Ayr - Salamanca Bay @ 7/2

Trainer Lucinda Russell is nearly always good for a winner at Ayr, and her best chance of the day could well be SALAMANCA BAY in the 2m½f handicap chase with Derek Fox booked for the job. 

Formerly trained by Jonathan Fogarty in Ireland, he won a Thurles maiden hurdle by 43 lengths in March 2022 before unseating his rider when competing at Grade 1 level at Aintree to round off that campaign. 

It has taken a while for Russell to get to the bottom of Salamanca Bay, but something clicked when bolting up over course and distance last month. Although he's 10lb higher in the weights now, he has a leading chance. 

17:45 Bath - Electric Storm @ 15/2

Night Of Thunder filly ELECTRIC STORM couldn't have done much more in her juvenile campaign, winning both starts on the all-weather at Kempton, and further improvement is expected on her turf debut in the Listed Whitsbury Manor Stud / British EBF Lansdown Stakes over 5f. 

On debut, she travelled through her race in style to beat a subsequent winner over 7f last August before following up there a month later when dropped back to 6f under a prominent Rossa Ryan ride. 

It might seem like an unusual move to now drop her down to 5f after starting her career out over 7f, but this girl has a lot of speed and this flying 5f might be well within her compass. The experienced Neil Callan takes over in the saddle and although this is a competitive race, she has every chance of maintaining her unbeaten record.