Racing: Local heroine lined up for the Cup

A new arrival can keep Saturday's big Ayr prize at home. Greg Wood reports

How often, in the aftermath of a famous victory, do we discover that there was a quirk of fate somewhere in the winner's past which would have screamed "certainty" even at the devoutly non-superstitious? It may well happen again after the Ayr Gold Cup on Saturday, but for once, no one can say they were not warned.

Don't Care, who is prepared by Linda Perratt in the middle of Ayr racecourse itself, will be the first Scottish-trained runner in that country's richest race for almost two decades, but until recently the filly did all her racing in Ireland.

"We went over to Jim Bolger's yard looking to buy a couple of distance horses," Perratt says. "I jokingly said, "do you have anything that could win the Ayr Gold Cup, because we could do with a highly rated sprinter." Don't Care was duly produced and I fell madly in love with her. I thought she was gorgeous, a big, robust filly, and I decided to buy her."

It was one of Perratt's better decisions. The transaction was completed on the morning of 5 August. That afternoon, Don't Care went to Leopardstown and won a six-furlong handicap worth pounds 20,000. "I was a little nervous," her new trainer says, "we'd just bought her and I was worried she might finish tailed off. Thankfully she won, so maybe it was an omen."

Even those who have no time for talk of fate might admit that Don't Care's arrival and preparation for Saturday's big race is a story of happy co- incidences. Even the elements are playing the game. Mid-September on the west of Scotland often brings soft ground for the Gold Cup, but Perratt's runner want fast ground and that, it seems, it what she will get.

It is impossible to say until the draw is made on Friday whether high or low stalls will be favoured. Whichever it is, though, you would not want to bet against Don't Care filling a prime position.

Nor is she likely to be delayed on the way to the track. The Cree Lodge Stables are adjacent to the course, which is a bonus for her trainer too, who is used to spending dozens of hours each week in a horse box.

"The travelling's never bothered me, so long as we've got something good enough to travel. When we won with Petite-D-Argent at Epsom on Oaks day, I've never know anything like walking into that ring and I don't really remember coming home. Once you're on the motorway, what's another hour if you say it quickly?

"Of course, it's lovely to be able to just walk across the road, though there's more pressure with all the people around. There's a great party atmosphere, it's the biggest meeting all year in Scotland, but the big trainers come up from the south and it's difficult to have a winner."

Given the fortune which has accompanied Don't Care thus far, she could probably win with a gorilla in her saddle, but understandly Perratt is taking no chances with her first runner in the Gold Cup. "Jason Weaver has been booked, he's a great judge of pace and it's a real honour that he's riding for us," she says. "Now I just have to keep my fingers, toes and legs crossed until Saturday."

So too will the punters who stepped in at 33-1 last week. Ladbrokes and Hills now offer just 14-1 against Don't Care, though 20-1 is still available with the Tote. "I haven't backed her because I haven't any money to invest at the moment. We're not really thinking about it, but of course there would be a great party if she won. Then again, as Ken Oliver used to say, win or lose, we'll be on the booze."