3.15 Ayr
Gran Canaria Queen 6/1
Tim Easterby's 4 year old filly Gran Canaria Queen has been very progressive this year having notched up 4 wins and on her latest start she ran a brilliant race when destroying her unfavoured side of the field in a tough handicap at the Ayr Festival over 5f by over 4L and off an unchanged mark I think she has an outstanding chance of winning this today. Grand Canaria Queen started notched her first win of the year with a ready success at Hamilton off a mark of 51 back in July and having missed the break on her next start she resumed winning ways with a very easy success off a mark of 56 at Thirsk over 6f at the start of August on what would be the start of a hat trick of wins. Unpenalised for that win in an apprentice handicap, she won again comfortably a week later at Haydock over 5f before she defied a 9lb rise at Newcastle when winning a 4 runner contest at Newcastle by 1.75L from the improving Dartrix with the 9L back to the 3rd towards the end of August. She was given a 5lb rise to her current mark of 70 for that success and for one reason or another she bombed out on her attempt for a 4 timer at Hamilton when disappointing as favourite at the start of September. However, she proved that was just a blip when posting a fantastic and arguably very unlucky effort at Ayr over 5f 12 days ago when coming home a 2.75L beaten 4th in a competitive 20 runner handicap as she was drawn on the wrong side of the track. Racing on the far side which proved to be the wrong place to be in all the big sprints that weekend, Gran Canaria Queen pulled clear of her side of the track over 2f out and although she finished over 4L clear of the far side group she unfortunately found 3 too good on the stands side rail. If she had been on the stands side of the track as opposed to the far side, she would definitely have been there bang at the finish and I definitely think she can gain compensation today off an unchanged mark. Carrying top weight of 9-7 today like she did on her last start, she's going to have to give quite a bit of weight away to a lot of her rivals but she proved LTO that she can do so and I think she's going to take an awful lot of beating. David Allan, who was on board for 2 of her wins this year, takes the ride and he clearly gets on very well with this 4 year old filly. Seemingly effective on all ground, I expect Gran Canaria Queen to track what should be a good pace from her draw in stall 4 and this progressive filly should take quite a lot of beating as she should gain compensation today with her 5th win of the season.