Ayr Tips: Alexander’s charge can be Cream of the crop

Three meetings are scheduled to take place in Britain on Monday, two over jumps at Ayr and Taunton and an all-weather fixture on the flat at Newcastle.

Ayr has a six-race card and we have a trio of selections, including a recent course and distance winner that could go in again.

Cream Of The West - Ayr 1.10

The ground has been very testing for this fixture in the last couple of years. Lucinda Russell won this in 2022 with Green Vault, who won three of his next four starts, and the trainer has Greenhill Gardens for this year’s renewal.

However, the one who looks hard to beatl is Cream Of The West. Nick Alexander’s charge is an eight-year-old but he’s lightly raced under rules and he got off the mark over this course and distance 19 days ago, building nicely on a promising comeback run at Hexham in November.

He stayed on very gamely that day, seemingly relishing the testing ground and he should get similar conditions again here.

That looked like a warm race, with the runner-up a very consistent yardstick and the form of his previous run at Hexham has worked out well, with the winner going in again since and the runner-up hitting the crossbar twice.

He was making his handicap debut when winning off a handicap mark of 97 last time and a new mark of 102 looks workable given his lightly raced profile. Furthermore, promising conditional Bruce Lynn is having a good season and he can take off 3lb, helping to offset his 5lb rise in the weights.

It doesn’t look like a deep race with several of his rivals out of form and if he finds any improvement, he could be hard to beat.

Dontyawantme - Ayr 1.40

In the following race, Easy To Follow is likely to be popular in her bid for a hat-trick for the trainer combination of Dr Richard Newland & Jamie Insole but she might have her work cut out giving 12lb away to Dontyawantme.

The seven-year-old showed plenty of promise in bumpers for Fergal O’Brien, including placing in a Listed bumper, and she’s made a really promising start for her new connections, running well at Wetherby before shaping like she needed the run. She then finished runner-up back at that venue last time out.

She had her momentum checked when making a bad mistake three out on that latest start and may have won without that error.

However, she showed a very good attitude, battling all the way to the line. This slightly longer trip can only help and she looks capable of serving it up to the topweight, Easy To Follow.

Ardera Cross - Ayr 3.10

Ardera Cross has won a remarkable 18 races under rules with half of those victories coming at this venue and her ninth course win came last week when winning over course and distance.

The veteran has a 7lb penalty to carry but he gets his conditions once again and he appears to have been found a good opportunity in this five-runner contest that includes three maidens under rules and Dr Sanderson, who is yet to show his best form this season.

Ardera Cross ticks plenty of boxes and looks capable of gaining his tenth career win with Danny McMenamin retaining the ride.

Check out our other Horse Racing Tips here.