Jockeys Richard Johnson and Franny Norton grabbed the
headlines at Ayr Racecourse in 2011 riding the winners of the Coral
Scottish Grand National and William Hill Ayr Gold Cup
respectively.
And for both riders it was the first time they had won the
biggest races in the Scottish racing calendar.
For Johnson in particular the win was sweet . It was his
14th ride in the race and he gave the Tim Vaughan
trained Beshabar, a 15/2 shot, a superb ride to hold off the 2010
winner Merigo all the way up the run in.
Merigo's owner Raymond Anderson Green was magnanimous in defeat
and for Vaughan it was a defining moment in a great season.
Franny Norton donned the colours of owner Dr Marwan Koukash
successful with Redford in 2010. This time the horse was Our
Jonathan and when Norton steered the Kevin Ryan trained charge to
the front entering the final furlong the result was never in doubt
and favourite Eton Rifles was a well beaten horse in second
place.
Dr Koukash commented afterwards : "I am so glad I came up this
year, I missed last year's so it is great to be up here. Great
course, great people, great result. We left at six this morning to
be here and I don't think we'll go back till six o'clock tomorrow
morning now."
Both Ayr's feature meetings in 2011 earned rave reviews from
some of the biggest names in the sport. David Pipe heaped praise on
the track following the Coral Scottish Grand National and the
normally hard to please David 'Dandy' Nicholls commented : "The
Clerk of the Course got it spot on" during the William Hill Ayr
Gold Cup Festival.
Ayr Racecourse had started the year celebrating two awards.
First up was the Racecourse of the Year 2010 for Scotland and the
North East by The Racegoers Club - the seventh consecutive year the
course has won this coveted award.
And then Clerk of the Course Emma Marley and her grounds team
won one of the most prestigious honours in the racing industry -
the Neil Wyatt Ground Staff Award for the Best Dual Purpose
Course.
This was only the second time Ayr has received this recognition
- having previously been successful in 1996, the inaugural year of
the award.
After a much interrupted 2010 at the track with six abandonments
Ayr lost only two meetings in 2011 - one in February and one in
November.
Highest attendance of the year came when more than 15,000
attended the Coral Scottish Grand National Saturday and were
treated to some memorable racing particularly the aforementioned
duel between Beshaber and Merigo.
Other highlights included the Isle of Skye Blended Whisky
Scottish Champion Hurdle which was won by the Paul Nicholls
trained, Ruby Walsh ridden Sanctuaire (9/2 jt fav). There was also
a win for Gilbarry (8/1) in the Scottish Sun Future Champion
Novices Chase.
And on the Friday the Hillhouse Quarry Handicap Chase went to
the Ferdy Murphy trained Watch My back (14/1) ridden by Graham
Lee.
The first flat action of the 2011 season at Ayr came via a
double header in May quickly followed by Saints and Sinners
Racenight and the Scottish Sun Raceday in June.
The June Saturday normally provides quality racing and this year
was no exception - the feature race of the afternoon, the Scottish
News Of The World EBF 'Major Cadeaux' Land O'Burns Fillies' (Listed
Race) was won by the favourite Margot Did in the hands of top lady
jockey Hayley Turner.
And there was success for Irvine born jockey David Allan on
Mariachi Man in the Scottish Sun Handicap for trainer Tim
Easterby.
Champion jockey Paul Hanagan underlined his status by riding 14
winners from 61 mounts at Ayr during the flat season including
several at the William Hill Ayr Gold Cup Festival.
All in all a good year for Ayr Racecourse with many highlights
and with 2012 looming there's much to look forward to.