EMIRATES DREAM can land the williamhill.com Handicap as the three-day Gold Cup meeting gets under way at Ayr.

All eyes in the 10-furlong contest will be on Dianne Sayer’s four-year-old Hot Rod Mamma, who has set alight the northern scene with five wins on the bounce.

But the chestnut filly is now 44lb higher than when her winning spree began off a mark of 48, which makes it tough to envisage her progressing even further this term.

Enter stage right Emirates Dream, who must have a fine chance if in the correct frame of mind.

Godolphin’s colt has not improved as might have been anticipated since winning at Goodwood last August, but he has been sparingly campaigned by Saeed bin Suroor and has plenty of class.

That was certainly the case in his salad years when he once got to within two lengths of the exceptionally gifted Behkabad.

Emirates Dream has plenty of stamina on both sides of the family so will be unfazed by this step back up to a mile and a quarter, while he is a proven performer with cut in the ground.

He might not have been a factor at York last month, but Bin Suroor clearly used that outing as a piece of match practice ahead of a big autumn handicap of this nature.

It also has to be of interest that Emirates Dream has swerved a weekend outing at Newbury in preference for this.

Amethyst Dawn served quiet notice of a return to form last time, and should be followed with interest in division two of the Isle of Skye 8-Y-O Blended Scotch Whisky Handicap.

Tim Easterby’s five-year-old has been a fine servant for the Great Habton handler, but had seemingly slipped by the wayside since winning at Thirsk in June.