Bet of the day: Monday’s racing NAP

Winning feeling in the Ayr

Ayr puts on a competitive six-race card to get the week off to a strong start, and the afternoon gets going with a maiden hurdle at 1.50pm.

The Scottish seaside resort is the focus of our attention for Monday’s bet of the day and we get up and running nice and early, with a solid play in the opener. Of the seven runners expected to tackle the two-miles five-furlongs on heavy ground, Reivers Lad carries our stake money.

Reivers promise to continue

The Nicky Richards’ hopeful has shown real promise in his three career starts, with the six-year-old finishing in the places on each outing, including a win on his penultimate start at Carlisle last march. He caught the eye that day, beating favourite Powerful Symbol into second by a 3 ½ length margin.

That was followed up with a third around here on his last effort, when lively in difficult company. Reivers Lad, ridden today by Craig Nichol, makes his seasonal reappearance and is expected to take to the challenge of going over hurdles with minimal fuss.

Followers of the stats will be encouraged to hear that Nicky Richards boasts a 21 per cent strike rate at Ayr since 2011 and holds a strong hand in this race, with stablemate Vouvray also lining up.

Sam’s Adventure for revenge

From one end of the card to the other, and my next best of the afternoon competes in the 4.35pm, the final test of the day. A two-mile national hunt flat race, I am hot on the chances of Sam’s Adventure and am hopeful he can send us off with a winner.

The five-year-old was previously seen letting punters down, runner-up last time behind Better Getalong despite going off as odds-on favourite. The winning margin was marked down as a short-head on that occasion, little over a month ago, but I fancy a bit of revenge here.

Again supported by the market, Brian Ellison’s hopeful is 7lb better off, and that should be telling come the final result, as there was nothing in it last time. I don’t expect the winner to have improved that much, and our pick to have learned nothing, especially on heavy ground. If my thinking is correct, we should be sitting pretty.

Ayr Selections

1.50 – Reivers Lad

2.20 – Cadeau Du Bresil

2.55 – Misfits

3.30 – Achill Road Boy

4.00 – Harley’s Max

4.35 – Sam’s Adventure

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