Denton Hall News

Hoping for a silver lining after a difficult season for Get Knotted

TRAINER Michael Dods has expressed concern about whether evergreen handicapper Get Knotted has had enough races as he heads for the Ayr Silver Cup tomorrow.

The eight-year-old gelding clearly likes Ayr, having been fourth in the Gold Cup in 2018 and third in the Silver Cup last year, but the restricted programme hasn't been ideal for him this season.

Michael's thoughts are summarised in his regular Weekend Preview...

"We've got four horses running this weekend – three at Ayr on Saturday and one at Hamilton on Sunday. Let’s hope they all run well.

First up, DIAMOND HAZE goes in the Microtech Group EBF Nursery Handicap (1.20) at Ayr. He’s done well, and has been pretty consistent, finishing in the first two in each of his last three races. The problem, however, is that each time he’s placed, he’s going up in the handicap. It’s a competitive race, and the owner likes to come to Ayr, but the question mark is whether he can overcome his handicap mark.

Next, GET KNOTTED runs in the Ayr Silver Cup Handicap (2.30). It’s been a funny season for Get Knotted because he hasn’t had a lot of racing. He loves those big seven-furlong handicaps at York, but because of the way the programme has been arranged this year, those races just haven’t really been there for him. As a result, he hasn’t been out as much as we’d normally have wanted and expected. He tends to run well at Ayr, but with it being the Silver Cup, it’s obviously very competitive and he’s going in without a lot of races under his belt.

BRUNCH is our third Saturday runner at Ayr in the Luxury Staycations At Western House Hotel Handicap (4.15). He’s a nice horse, and he’s obviously done very well at York, winning a couple of races in a row. He’s a horse on the upgrade and he’s been in good form all season, so hopefully he’ll do well and put in another good run.

Our Sunday runner is ARCAVALLO in the Barbara Ann Letham & Son Jonathan Memorial Handicap up at Hamilton (2.05). He’s been running okay, but probably no more than that at the moment. He didn’t seem to stay the six furlongs at Newcastle last time out, so we thought we would give him a blast over five furlongs to see how he goes. He seems difficult to win with at the moment, but hopefully the change of trip might do the trick."