Ayr Festival Day 1 Horse Racing Tips Today – Each-Way Bets | 17 September 2026

🏇 The Ayr Festival gets underway on Thursday and this is one of the meetings we look forward to most all season. Three days of competitive Scottish Flat racing lie ahead, culminating in one of the biggest sprint handicaps of the year,.

For Day One, we’ve worked through the handicaps. looking beyond the obvious market leaders to find a couple of each-way bets in the (14.00) Class 5 Brandinghub For Signs & Graphics Handicap over the minimum 5f. 🐎🔥🍀

Ayr Festival horse racing tips below

BOL if you're making any selections today🍀🤞🐎

Back in the morning around 9.00 am.

Gary

2025/26 £1k to £10k Challenge bank ended at £1529.59 with a 36% win/place rate.

2026/27 £1k to £10k Challenge bank stands at £1420.72 with a 38% win/place rate and full stakes at £17.76 EW

2026/27 Turf bank stands at +51. 86 pts to 1pt EW stakes with over a 36% win/place rate.

2025/26 AW bank ended at +62.6 pts to 1pt EW stakes with over a 39% win/place rate.

Full Results from 2015 onwards >>HERE<<

Ayr Festival Horse Racing Tips

Ayr 14.00

WHISKEY EYES – 16/1 EW and HI LORD 18/1, FIVE places, 1/5 odds

There are plenty of obvious dangers at the head of the market. Oriental Prince gave us a nice winner at York last time and has again landed a very useful draw in stall 9. Jim Goldie’s record in this race is also difficult to ignore landing the last 3 renewals.

Startling is another obvious player after her recent 5f form, but at the prices we’re happier looking further down the market.

The draw has played a big part in the thinking too, with nine of the last ten winners we reviewed coming from stalls 1–9,

First up is R Michael Smith's WHISKEY EYES.

Her overall form figures don't immediately jump off the page, but her Ayr record through the summer is much more encouraging, having finished 3rd, 3rd and 2nd in handicaps here from marks of 65 and 62. That sequence tells us she clearly handles the track and, importantly, she has already been competitive around here from a higher mark than the one she races from today.

Her latest run at Hamilton also came in a much stronger contest and she was beaten only around 3¼ lengths, so the bare finishing position probably undersells the effort slightly. She now drops into a race with a much lower average OR and has the inside draw to help her save ground.

The obvious question is the drop back to 5f, because most of her strongest Ayr form has come over six, but this is a stiff minimum trip and her proven stamina could become useful if they go hard enough in front in the conditions with more rain forecast.

Jason Hart takes the ride, with 16/1 and FIVE places 🍀🤞

Second up is HI LORD.

He has been running from higher marks through most of the summer and drops back to OR63 today, exactly the mark from which he won over 5f at Hamilton in May. More importantly, he has already shown that he can compete from higher ratings, finishing third from OR66 at Hamilton in a stronger race than this. He also ran a very good race when third over this exact Ayr 5f from the same mark in July.

His latest run came over the longer trip at the quirky Catterick where he was beaten around three lengths after being caught a little flat-footed before staying on again. The return to the minimum trip looks a positive as he is already a two-time 5f winner, and his stronger runs suggest this stiff five gives him enough time to find his stride without stretching his speed over six.

He has also been handed Trap 2, which looks a major positive and can race prominently when required, so unlike some of the other low-drawn runners he has the natural style to make use of that track position to be there long enough to run the slots at worst.

This is his first start for Stephen Hanlon after leaving Gary Harrison, and while I don't know whether the change of yard will bring any improvement, his existing form from higher marks already gives him a solid chance in this grade.

Tom Eaves doing the steering and on with with 18/1 and FIVE places 🍀🤞

⭐ Ayr 14.00 - Whiskey Eyes & Hi Lord (Full Stakes Challenge Bets) ⭐

Today's Bets........

Good luck with any of your EW selections today.

⭐ Ayr 14.00 - Whiskey Eyes & Hi Lord (Full Stakes Challenge Bets) ⭐

BOL (Best Of Luck!)

ABW Team

I hope you take up the chance to purchase and read the book. It took a while but I thought after 49 years and counting it was about time. You can check it out here HERE or the linked image below