It's not the Derby or the Guineas, it's not even a Classic. But many of our top Flat trainers nominate today's William Hill Ayr Gold Cup as the race they would most like to win every year.

Yorkshire trainers have produced eight of the last ten winners.

In particular Kevin Ryan and Dandy Nicholls have a fantastic record in producing the horse ready on the day for the six-furlong cavalry charge.

This year is a bit different. With Thursday's racing washed out the ground is set to be very testing, but the Yorkshire trainers saddle 15 of the 27 runners and they've a fair chance of keeping their hands on the prize.

For starters, I think last year's winner Our Jonathan has a big chance for Kevin Ryan and Jim Crowley. The five-year-old has form in testing ground, comes here only 1lb higher than last year and has been trained for this race all year.

Ryan, who won the race in 2007 with Advanced, is mounting a three-strong attack.

The Hambleton handler also saddles Pintura and Captain Ramius.

"Even for soft ground horses this is going to take some getting, it's going to be a slog," said Ryan.

"Luckily enough I've got three who will go through the ground, how well they will go through it I don't know.

"When the rain came, Our Jonathan was obviously one people latched on to and I'm really happy with him. We've trained him for the race, he looks really well for this time of year and seems in just as good a shape as last year.

"Pintura stays seven furlongs and a mile, he's not a slow horse and he loves soft ground so he should hold his own."

He is drawn towards the far side in stall five, and in these types of races I like to split my stakes and take one from each side.

Forgetting who trains it, I also like the look of Dandy Nicholls-trained Rodrigo De Torres, who is near the stands side in stall 27.

Nicholls bought the five-year-old out of Elaine Burke's yard last month for £75,000 with this race in mind and it's interesting that the trainer's son Adrian chose this one instead of the yard's other runner Beacon Lodge.

It's the first time Ayr have put on the consolation races, for the horses that didn't make it into the Gold Cup, on the same day. So instead of one massive sprint handicap to solve they have three.

The William Hill Bronze Cup gets the card under way at 1.45 and I'm really keen on the three-year-old in the line-up, Jack Dexter.

Trained in Scotland by Jim Goldie, Jack Dexter has also been targeted for this race and it will be a surprise if he's not running in the Gold Cup next year. Drawn down the middle of the track, his jockey, the excellent Graham Lee, will have options where to go, and I think he will be going to the winner's enclosure.

The William Hill Silver Cup is next and although there are question marks about the ground regarding Hamza, he is my selection. He is another inmate of the Kevin Ryan yard.

This horse has already done me a good turn this season, winning at 16-1 at Newmarket. All his winning has been done on a sound surface but he only ran once on soft and ran with credit, so I'm prepared to give him a chance under leading Irish jockey Pat Smullen.