Saturday’s Group 2 Hungerford Stakes winner Witch Hunter heads the weights for next month’s Virgin Bet Ayr Gold Cup on 10-3 with the Richard Hannon trained 4 year-old topping a 194-strong entry from his new handicap mark of 115.

Mick Appleby’s Group 1 King’s Stand Stakes third Annaf is next in the weights for the September 23 feature on 9-10 with the two top-rated 3 year-olds Rumstar (Jonathan Portman) and Shouldvebeenaring (Richard Hannon) next on the list on 9-9 and 9-8.

Last year’s winner Summerghand looks like defending his crown off 9-4 but Saturday’s seasonal best second place in Ripon’s Great St Wilfrid Handicap means the 9 year-old’s been pushed back up to last year’s winning mark of 102, having slipped down to 97 in the meantime.

The highest-rated Scottish trained horse in the race (and currently guaranteed a run) is the Katie Scott trained Gweedore on 9-2 but the Galashiels based handler is keeping an eye on the weather over the next 4 weeks and Gweedore is only likely to run if the word soft appears in the going description.

2021 winner Bielsa is currently number 29 in the weights on 9-1 but Kevin Ryan’s sprinter should make the 25 strong field on the day, with the Virgin Bet Silver Cup and Virgin Bet Bronze Cup also being run at the meeting for horses which don’t make the cut for Scotland’s biggest Flat race.