For some, it is just another sprint handicap. For a trainer like John Gallagher, however, the Ayr Gold Cup is a race that could change a career. “We’ve had a great year, but it doesn’t matter if you’re a big trainer or a small trainer, it’s all about the quality of the horses you get,” Gallagher said on Friday. “I think we do really well with the quality of horse we’ve got, but this is just one of those races. You get recognition if you win a race like this.”
Like the Stewards’ Cup, another six-furlong handicap, on the southern circuit, the Ayr Gold Cup is the one event above all that many northern trainers and owners want to win. It is an ambition and a daydream, sitting just on the right side of delusional fantasy.
Gallagher will run Majestic Moon, his stable star, in the feature event at Ayr on Saturday afternoon, when he will attempt to follow up a valuable win over seven furlongs at Ascot earlier this month. That took Gallagher’s 30-horse yard in the Cotswolds to £107,000 in win prize money in 2015. Majestic Moon and champion jockey-elect Silvestre de Sousa could now double that total in about 60 seconds.
Though he now trains in the west country, Gallagher’s accent still has hints of his roots in the north-east. He decided on a career in racing as a teenager, went straight from school into a yard in 1983, and spent time as a travelling head lad before taking out a licence 15 years ago.
“I used to help a chap out in the north-east with ponies and chickens and all sorts of a menagerie,” he says. “Every Saturday afternoon we would go in and watch the racing on World of Sport, and I was watching it one day and I said to him: ‘I think that’s what I want to be’. This chap said: ‘Well, go for it,’ and so I did and here I am. It’s like getting paid for a hobby. It’s a great leveller but it’s the best life ever when things are going well and you wouldn’t want to be anywhere else.
“I was a travelling head lad to Ken Ivory and he was a master with his sprinters. He won the Portland [at Doncaster] and did so well with his sprinters, and I thought that one day, it would be lovely to win a race like that.”
Majestic Moon is top-priced at 25-1 and drawn in stall 16, a little away from the highest boxes generally favoured on the sprint course at Ayr. Gallagher will have been pleased to see Go Far win Friday’s Bronze Cup from stall 13, however, and feels that while his gelding has raced solely at seven furlongs, the conditions of Saturday’s race could prove ideal.
“He’s such a relaxed character he’s a dream to train,” the trainer said. “He didn’t turn a hair on the way up and ate everything last night. His form has stepped up again this year, he’s a very happy horse and it’s like anything, if you’re happy and content in yourself, you’re going to thrive.
“Someone once told me that for the likes of the Stewards’ Cup and Ayr Gold Cup, you need a six-furlong horse that stays seven furlongs and I think he falls into that category. He’s got bags of toe, tends to do a bit too much over seven on occasions, and he’s such a lovely big-striding horse that the better ground should suit him. He’s drawn well enough, he’s got speed for six and stamina too, so if they go a mad gallop and cook their goose at five furlongs, he’ll still be staying on.”
De Sousa, who seems certain to finish the season as the Flat’s champion jockey, takes over in the saddle on Majestic Moon from Michael Murphy, who picked up a ban when winning on the gelding at Ascot.
“It’s a shame for Michael, but we needed someone who rides Ayr and the northern tracks well and is at the top of their game. He’s level-headed and strong, so Silvestre ticked all the boxes,” Gallagher said.
“It would be a special day to finish in the first three or four but I’ve got to get home on Sunday. I’m not sure I’d get away from here on Saturday night if he wins.”
