The Unite The Union Land O’Burns Fillies’ Stakes is the highlight of Ayr’s midsummer Saturday meeting on June 21 with some of the quickest fillies and mares in training set to do battle up the closing 5 furlongs of the Ayr Gold Cup course.

Last year’s finish was so close that the judge couldn’t separate the two main protagonists Azure Blue and Beautiful Diamond with the spoils being shared in a dead-heat between the fillies ridden by Paul Mulrennan and David Nolan.

That joint-win for Mulrennan on Azure Blue meant the jockey had now bagged the big fillies’ sprint at Ayr for the third time after successes on Marsha for trainer Sir Mark Prescott in 2016 and Que Amoro for Azure Blue’s handler Michael Dods in 2020.

Mecca’s Mate remains the only filly to have won the now £50,000 race twice in 2005 and 2007 while both Marsha (2016) and 2011 Land O’Burns winner Margot Did went on to win at Group 1 level in the same season as their Listed successes at Ayr.

The big race is sue off at 6.33 on the card and this year’s meeting coincides, as usual, with the 5th and final day of Royal Ascot with all the big races from Berkshire being shown on the big screens around the track at Ayr during the afternoon and early evening.

Ayr’s first race on a 7-race card will be under orders at 4.10pm and the main supporting race to the Land O’Burns Stakes will be the high-class £40,000 Join Unite Online Handicap for the Johnstone Rose Bowl which will be run over a mile and 5 furlongs at 5.25.

Last year’s race was won by the now retired, Jim Goldie trained Euchen Glen, a horse which was winning for the 13th time in 72 starts and, notably, for the 5th time at Ayr.

That success 12 months ago under regular rider Paul Mulrennan turned out to be the final win for the ever-popular middle-distance horse, his 7 subsequent runs earning place money on 3 occasions but his final unplaced run at Doncaster in November prompting connections to draw stumps after a superb career.