A Breath Of Fresh Ayr

Whiskey Chaser had his second run of the season at Ayr Racecourse on January 2nd 2017. The 14:00 Ayr Racinguk.com/hd Handicap Chase was contested by five runners, the ground was described officially as soft/heavy and unofficially as bloody awful!

Whisky Chaser went up to Scotland the night before the race and the team reported he traveled well and everything was looking good for the upcoming race at 2 o’clock. I couldn’t make the journey but I did watched the race via the live streaming on the Betfair app.

Ayr racecourse is the home of the Scottish Grand National and widely regarded as a tough course, especially in harsh conditions. The ground on the day didn’t improved by the time of the race, and the punters were showing more faith in the NORTONTHORPELEGEND (IRE) and NEWTOWN LAD (IRE) than WHISKEY CHASER who went off as a 5/1 shot.

The race distance was just a little over three miles with nineteen jumps. Whiskey Chaser led from the start and looked comfortable despite a few sketchy jumps. By the halfway point NORTONTHORPELEGEND, NEWTOWN LAD and WHISKEY CHASER opened up a gap from THE ORANGE ROGUE (IRE) and FLAMING THISTLE (IRE) who were struggling in the conditions. With four fences left to jump the race was between WHISKEY CHASER and NORTONTHORPELEGEND. Our lad had a narrow led with three fences to go, but he crashed through the third fence and that opened the door for NORTONTHORPELEGEND who was putting up a strong fight. By the time they reached the last fence it was clear that NORTONTHORPELEGEND was going to win. However, it was a very respectable second place for Whiskey Chase.

The team will now look for a third race and hopefully we can go one better!