Being left all alone was the key for Bielsa, a horse with Garboesque tendencies

The golden rule of sprint handicaps is the draw bias turns out to be the opposite of what you were expecting. There were a few bits of evidence in the opening days of Ayr's Western meeting that pointed towards the far rail as the best place to be, so naturally enough the Virgin Bet-sponsored Gold Cup was won by the only runner to stick hard against the stands' rail, Bielsa literally bounding over the line as he ended a 23-month losing run.

Just an hour earlier, lots of the same jockeys had seemed in hesitant and exploratory mood in the Silver Cup, when the field was still fanned out across the whole width of the track at a later stage than usual. At halfway, they looked as if they'd just emerged from the stalls. Staxton won from stall two, those drawn high never figured and that seemed to conclude matters as to where you wanted to be.

When the stalls clanged open for the big one, the larger of two groups edged towards the far rail, almost everyone else grouped up the middle and Bielsa had about a third of the straight to himself. Apparently, that's how he likes it; he raced alone up the middle when sixth in the Stewards' Cup and also ploughed a lone furrow, a little way off the stands' rail, in last year's Ayr Gold Cup.