Crystal An Interesting Dark Horse At Ayr

I think we had a more than decent Champions Weekend, returning a tasty profit with a couple of winners and places and a nice reverse forecast. For me, the two standout performers were Madhmoon and Skitter Scatter, while both Roaring Lion and Saxon Warrior get honourable mentions too. Also, Study Of Man got very buzzed up in the preliminaries so don’t lose the faith as he is a better horse than he showed at Leopardstown.
 

Dark Crystal loves soft ground and goes well at Ayr.

The Ayr Gold Cup festival starts on Thursday and hopefully we get to see more racing than we did last year. The ground is currently described as soft at the Scottish track and one horse that looks sure to relish the conditions is Dark Crystal. This horse is no stranger to success at Ayr and either is her trainer, and at very nice odds I think a big run could be on the cards.

This 7yo daughter of Multiplex loves to get her toe in, and while she has won once on quick ground she is undoubtedly a better mare on softer ground. She has won nine races in her time and six of her victories have come at Ayr over 7f/8f on soft or good to soft ground. Her last triumph came in June of last year on soft over 7f off a mark of 67 with Lewis Edmunds claiming 5lb and she is now rated 65. With Ben Robinson claiming 3lb she is effectively off the same mark now so she is weighted to be competitive.

The reason that Dark Crystal is such a big price is because her two runs this season have been the worst of her career. She finished last on both occasions over a mile on good ground here and at Musselburgh and she was beaten a combined total of 61L. However, I reckon those two runs were designed to have her fit for this festival, and the booking of Ben Robinson suggests that Perratt means business.

He has a fine record when riding for Linda Perratt with two wins and a 2nd from just four rides, including a win for these owners. Stakes should be kept small with this one, because it is impossible to get away from the fact that Dark Crystal ran so poorly on both her appearances this season. However, Linda Perratt is a shrewd operator and back on soft ground at a track she loves, I think Dark Crystal has to be worth chancing each way at 25/1.

STEVOS’ SELECTION: 2.30 AYR-DARK CRYSTAL E/W @ 25/1