AYR'S three-day Gold Cup meeting gets under way this afternoon with an avalanche of runners, most notably the 27-strong cavalry charge for the A6 Handicap, in which Viewforth (2.40) is the each-way advice.

On a point of handicapping, Viewforth would be the proverbial "steering job" if he could recapture his form of just over a year ago, when he slammed similarly big fields in successive races at Haydock and Beverley.

The last named of those victories was achieved on a mark of 71, so the fact that he is now operating off a 12lb lower rating tells us he should technically have a ton in hand.

Such optimism needs, however, to be tempered by Viewforth's poor overall level of performance during the past few months, although in his defence a combination of fast ground, no luck in running or being poorly drawn has contributed to his demise.

Heavy rain on the west coast of Scotland has ensured underfoot conditions will be to the liking of Jim Goldie's gelding, eliminating that particular negative from the equation, and provided Viewforth doesn't encounter too many traffic problems, a decent run looks on the cards.

In August the nap selections were hitting the target with pleasing regularity, but this month seconditis has sadly set in to take some of the shine off the previously good figures.

One particularly niggling example is Calatagan (5.10), who was agonisingly headed in the dying strides at York when going off at the mouthwatering odds of 11-1. The reason for the defeat possibly stemmed from the five-year-old returning to action after his summer break and simply running out of puff in the shadow of the post.

If that assumption is correct, Calatagan will be all the sharper for his bid to lift the Kilkerran Cup, a mile-and-three-furlong contest in which he's fully capable of making a major impact over a distance tailor-made for the Malton raider.

David Barron's tender touch looks like it is about to pay-off with Impressive Flight (3.50), in with a great shout of taking one of the feature events at Pontefract, the £10,000 Dixon Renault Fillies' Handicap.

Despite Impressive Flight's career taking a bit of a nosedive since her lucrative three-year-old campaign, Barron has been patient with his speedy mare, who showed serious signs of an imminent return to the winners' enclosure with a close-up staying-on sixth place at Goodwood's weekend fixture.

Long-distance horses seem to be Mark Tompkins' speciality this term, first producing Inchpast to win three of his last four races, plus the progressive grey stayer, Patrixprial, an impressive winner at Yarmouth in August.

Given a short 18-day holiday following that triumph, Patrixprial revisits the seaside venue in order to line-up for the two-mile R M Levitt Handicap.

In contrast with the majority of his rivals, the Tompkins-trained colt is relatively unexposed, and seeing as he was only raised 6lb must once again enter calculations for the £15,000 event.

* Gallops Whisper followed Tuesday's 12-1 winner, Brecon, with 7-1 scorer, Devinely Decadent, at Yarmouth yesterday.

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