'It would be good to get my name on it again' - Jack Berry is eyeing another Ayr Gold Cup

Hope springs eternal for perennial optimist Jack Berry, who has his sights set on another Ayr Gold Cup with Aleezdancer.

The man awarded an MBE for his tireless efforts for the Injured Jockeys Fund fulfilled a lifelong ambition when he landed Scotland's biggest Flat race with So Careful in 1988.

Berry stopped training in 1999 and is now 85, but he is as enthusiastic as ever – ask anyone who saw the grin on his face after the Kevin Ryan-trained Aleezdancer took the 6f handicap.

The winner had wintered with Berry, who said: "I've a few shares in horses here and there but I own a half of him and he's a little star.

"He's not very big but he's gutsy and loves this ground. He's no good in the summer as he likes cut, and my main hope for him is the Ayr Gold Cup. It would be good to get my name on it again.

"I won it with So Careful in 1988 and every horse we ever trained that looked like getting six furlongs was in. It took us quite a while to do it and to do it again would be tremendous. It's something to look forward to."

Everything is possible

When you spend 325,000gns on a Frankel colt out of Queen Elizabeth II Stakes winner Persuasive you are entitled to have high expectations, and the dream is still alive with Theoryofeverything as Prince Faisal's three-year-old, trained by John and Thady Gosden, bolted up by six lengths on his debut in the 7f novice.

"He travelled well into the race after overcoming a bit of greenness early on," jockey Robert Havlin said. "He's got a really good mind, let's hope he can build on it.

"He handled the ground well, that was the key. I won the Atalanta Stakes on his mother on soft ground and she won the QEII and was a really decent filly."

His win looked just as good from afar. The owner's racing manager Ted Voute had been visiting two-year-olds at Andre Fabre's yard in France, and said: "I watched the race in the car on the way back home and he looked very good; it's a great start.

"I've just talked to John and he said we'll go anywhere where the ground is heavy."

Voute had mixed news on the rest of the Prince's string, and said: "We were looking forward to Eydon with Andrew Balding, but he's suffered a setback again so it's all down to the two-year-olds. We're excited for Mishriff's half-brother by Frankel – he's called Reliant and he's going to John and Thady Gosden."

Jack's the lad

Jack Lander, who made his name as a schoolboy charity fundraiser, has always wanted to be a jockey and he landed his second winner on Clansman in the amateur riders' handicap.

Lander made no secret of his ambition in the days when he raised more than £30,000 for the Injured Jockeys Fund and Racing Welfare as a 12-year-old. Now 17, he has worked for Karl Burke for 18 months, and said: "It's nice to get the turf season off to a good start and I hope it will be a good year."

Elsewhere on the card, Rose Dawes's claim is down to 5lb from 7lb after her win on Bucephalus in the 1m2f handicap.

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