Ayr Racecourse is all set to stage the first running of the Ladbrokes Get More With Racing Bet Builder Silver Cup Trial on Monday July 6.

The new race will be run 2 weeks before our increasingly popular Ayr Gold Cup Trial on Monday July 20 and it’s hoped that owners and trainers with sprint handicappers could see both races as stepping stones to running in the Gold, Silver or Bronze Cups at our Ladbrokes Ayr Gold Cup Festival between 17-19 September.

The new 6 furlongs handicap over the full course and distance of the Gold, Silver and Bronze Cups will be a Class 4 race worth £20,000 with the field restricted to horses rated 61-85. We hope this should attract plenty of sprint handicappers thought likely to progress into serious contenders for the bigger 6 furlong prizes at the Gold Cup meeting.

The Gold Cup Trial will be run for the 5th time this year and after Snash collected the prize for the Tim Easterby yard in 2022, Brian Ellison saddled Ramiro to win in 2023, a race which featured the subsequent 2025 Royal Ascot Group 1 winner American Affair (now rated 111) as he cut his teeth in the handicap ranks for Jim Goldie off an astonishingly low mark of 70.

The 2024 winner Alfa Kellenic (Craig Lidster) went on to triumph in the Ayr Silver Cup later that same season and last year’s Gold Cup Trial winner Almeraq was a leading contender for the big race itself before an injury sustained in a racecourse fall at York meant he missed a return trip to Ayr.

Almeraq is now due to run in this weekend’s Group 1 Queen Elizabeth II Jubilee Stakes at Royal Ascot (Saturday) and connections clearly see last year’s Ayr Gold Cup Trial winner as a top class performer in the mould of 2023 contender American Affair which continues to compete at the highest level.