Rain pleases Williams

Trainer Stuart Williams was delighted to see some rain at Ayr ahead of Hogmaneigh’s tilt at the totesport Ayr Gold Cup tomorrow.

The lightly-raced three-year-old went into many notebooks with an eye-catching success at Sandown last month, form which was held when the runner-up Gimasha won a competitive event at Lingfield.

Despite finishing only third in the Portland Handicap at York last week, punters have not lost faith in Williams’ charge and the rain that fell at Ayr on Thursday has seen him shorten to 9-2 favourite with the sponsors.

“He’s in great form and I’m very happy with him,” said Williams.

“I was obviously happy with the rain that fell yesterday as everybody knows he is better with a bit of cut in the ground.

“I suppose we would have liked to have come out of the hat a bit earlier but if they all congregate around the stands side rail on Friday, the middle might be the place to be come the off.

“The sprint on Thursday was difficult to weigh up as all the fancied horses were drawn high. Given a choice, I would have liked a stall in the 20s but we’ve got 17.

“The good thing is we’ve got speed horses near us in The Kiddykid and Borderlescott so hopefully there’ll be plenty of pace around us.

“He’s lightly raced and horses such as Lochsong and Coastal Bluff have won this before going on to win Group Ones and I’d love to think he’d turn out as good as those two!”