Today's Tote Placepot Tips for Ayr

Leg 1 Selections: Beat Box, Oot Ma Way

BEAT BOX returned from a near-eight month absence to finish a solid second at Hexham last month and won this race twelve months ago off an eleven pounds lower mark. James Ewart’s charge has to come under consideration in his quest to win this race for the second year in a row. 

OOT MA WAY shaped well when fourth after an absence at Kelso last time and her trainer Iain Jardine is in-form and his filly gets into this race off a two-pound lower mark than last time. If she can build on that latest display, she should be in the thick-end of the action here and is on the shortlist. 

Leg 2 Selections: Sailing Grace 

SAILING GRACE beat a next-time-out winner at Newton Abbot in October despite jumping left at times and she is sure to improve a lot from that experience. The opposition in this race look far from strong, so Anthony Honeyball’s filly should prove difficult to beat in her bid to make it two-from-two under rules. 

Leg 3 Selections: Ruby Island 

It is hard to split the front pair in the market for leg four but RUBY ISLAND has shown enough in bumpers to indicate she will win a fair share of events over hurdles. She has acquitted herself very well in defeat in stronger company at Aintree/Cheltenham this autumn, especially last time behind Queens Gamble. 

She has the potential to be an even better hurdler plus she gets plenty of weight from her nearest market rival Ivar, which is valuable in the context of this race. She should be well-suited to this course and, with every possibility she will jump fluently given her schooling session which has gone well, she should play a leading role. 

Leg 4 Selections: Eternally Yours, Gold Emery

ETERNALLY YOURS narrowly got the better of Charm Offensive when successful over course-and-distance last month which ended a four-year winless drought. His trainer saddled the winner of this race last year, so this might have been his main target and he is therefore strongly fancied to go well again despite being hit with a four-pounds rise in the weights. 

Donald McCain’s GOLD EMERY made the perfect start to his hurdles career at Carlisle when beating a warm-favourite with plenty to spare. An opening mark of 110 appears to be on the lenient side judged on that success and he should relish the step up in distance. With improvement forthcoming, he has to enter calculations on just his second start under rules.

Leg 5 Selections: Are U Wise To That

ARE U WISE TO THAT returned a comfortable winner on Rules debut at Warwick in a bumper event and followed that up on his hurdles debut in October. The form of his bumper success looks really strong as the second subsequently won a good-quality novices’ hurdle at Cheltenham. 

Lucinda Russell’s Step Above is recognised as his main danger but, with lots of progress to come, Jonjo O’Neill’s charge is fancied to keep his unbeaten record intact and make it three-from-three. He appears to be an above-average prospect judged on what we have seen of him to date. 

Leg 6 Selections: Cobolobo, Destiny Is All

The Jonjo O’Neill-trained COBOLOBO is a quirky character but he’s a good horse when on-song and was narrowly denied in January in a better race at Ascot off a mark of 128. He is three-pounds lower for this much easier race and three-pounds below his last winning mark too, so he could go well at double-figure odds. 

DESTINY IS ALL is a chaser on the upgrade and has won three of his last four starts. He produced a career-best performance to win by seven-lengths at Kelso and has only been raised three-pounds for that success. Lucinda Russell’s eight-year-old has yet to finish outside the top-two in all completed starts at this course too.