Ayr Gold Cup: Brando leads the way as Yorkshire dominates with 1-2-3 finish

His four-legged namesake has both the paycheck and talent after providing Hambleton trainer Kevin Ryan with a fourth win in Ayr’s William Hill Gold Cup – one of the main sprint handicaps – in the past decade.

It was a win with a Hollywood script.

Angie Bailey, who co-owns the horse with her partner (and Barnsley taxi firm owner) Pete Tingey, drew lucky stall eight at the declarations – seven winners have come from this gate since 1990.

The horse was ridden beautifully to first prize of a mere £124,500 by Tom Eaves, who is engaged to be married to the victorious trainer’s daughter Amy, herself a former champion apprentice.

Hankies had to be at the ready as tears of joy flowed in the winner’s enclosure.

And the stage is now set for the encore – Brando is likely to race in next month’s Group One Qipco British Champions Sprint at Ascot. This will be the richest-ever raceday in the country, with the cast-list of champions in this race alone due to feature dual Nunthorpe winner Mecca’s Angel and Karl Burke’s Quiet Reflection.

Furthermore Brando, Mecca’s Angel and Quiet Reflection have all illuminated the Flat campaign because they have shown it is still possible for owners of relatively modest means to win the big prizes.

Brando’s eye-catching yellow and purple colours are also no strangers to the big stage – Bailey and Tingey, who name all their horses after showbusiness legends, won York’s Gimcrack Stakes in 2012 with Astaire.

Then they were tasked with having to deliver the Gimcrack speech to racing’s glitterati, an honour that they accepted with trepidation because of York Racecourse’s rather exacting standards. At least there were no strings attached to this win.

Joint top-weight of 9st 10lb proved no handicap for Brando, who reeled in the hot favourite Growl from Richard Fahey’s yard before surging clear by one-and-a-quarter lengths with Mick Easterby’s veteran Hoof It, running in the colours of golfer Lee Westwood and sports agent Chubby Chandler, rolling back the years to finish third.

A one-two-three for Yorkshire-trained horses, it would be churlish not to mention Growl’s rider Graham Lee. In 2004, he won the marathon Scottish Grand National at Ayr on Grey Abbey before switching codes and coming frustratingly close to landing the track’s most prestigious Flat prize.

Yet this was Brando’s day.

“It’s very special for the owners,” said Ryan, whose previous winners were Advanced (2007), Our Jonathan (2011) and Captain Ramius (2012).

“They’ve been coming here for years and are great friends of mine and Angie has always wanted to win this race.

“Angie said to draw stall eight if his name comes out early enough. She picked the stall. I always like to go middle to far side and all horses came out early enough for me to do that, so it’s worked out.

“If you’re patient, I’ve always said this will be a good horse.”

Eaves, who also won the opener aboard Now Children, added: “He was the class horse in the race, but he needed a bit of luck. It all worked out lovely and it’s great to ride the Ayr Gold Cup winner. It’s the big handicap we want to win up here. Owner Angie picked the stall there, so brilliant.”

Brando was roundly cut in price to around 12-1 for the Ascot sprint – Barnsley-born Tingey has made no secret of the couple’s desire to win a Group One prize.

The aforementioned stall eight was also the place to be in the William Hill Ayr Silver Cup as Roudee came through strongly to strike under Richard Kingscote. Having won the consolation race for the Great St Wilfrid Handicap at Ripon last month, Tom Dascombe’s sprinter got home by half-a-length from Get Knotted.

Meanwhile, Bryan Smart’s Delectation came from last to first to run out an impressive winner of the William Hill Firth of Clyde Stakes under Paul Mulrennan.

Smart, whose stables adjoin the Ryan yard in North Yorkshire, was winning this race for a third time. He said: “She’s a home-bred filly and the idea was to take her to Australia. I’m hoping they will leave her with me now and let me train her for the Guineas.”

Smart, whose horses have never been in better form, was out of luck at Newbury where sprinter Alpha Delphini, winner of the Beverley Bullet sprint, was touched off by Cotai Glory in the Dubai International Airport World Trophy.

The victor was another high-profile success for Ladbrokes St Leger-wining jockey George Baker.

Amazing Maria, owned by Sir Robert Ogden, has been supplemented for the Shadwell Joel Stakes at Newmarket on Friday.

David O’Meara’s dual Group One winner is set to drop down a grade in a bid to register her first success of the season.

North Yorkshire-based O’Meara also has Custom Cut, the winner in 2014 and runner-up to Time Test 12 months ago.