UP for sale Ayr gets a priceless opportunity to show potential buyers what they could be investing in with this week's three-day Gold Cup Festival the centre-point of the Betfair Scottish Racing Fortnight - a marketing wheeze which kicks off at Musselburgh tomorrow then moves on to Ayr, Hamilton, Perth and back to Musselburgh two weeks today.

The Gold Cup itself is the final day highlight on Saturday with Hamilton racing Sunday and Monday and Perth in action the following Wednesday and Thursday. Ayr will be the meeting with the terrestrial television coverage though and we can expect the usual big build-up to the Gold Cup, a top-class sprint handicap but a race hugely dependant on the draw.

With the going currently soft and unlikely to quicken up too much, I wouldn't be lumping on anything drawn high against the stands rail, especially as the ground staff will almost certainly have to widen the course on the far side and open up a fresh strip of ground which will have been unraced on over the past couple of months.

Anything pacy enough to take advantage of a draw between 1 and 6 might well have a huge advantage and Thursday's ballot for the stalls will be fascinating.

If the Scottish-trained Burnwynd Boy runs I'd back him each way whatever his berth as I feel he might have the touch of class required for this but the lottery of the draw allied to ground conditions makes tipping in advance more difficult than ever.

Channel 4 are unlikely to get through their Saturday coverage without giving the track a free advert for its current market availability and even though the current owners are, understandably, intent on retaining the part of the ground for which they've acquired house-building planning permission, anyone visiting this week after a five-year absence will see a top-class facility compared to the rundown mess bought by Messrs Macdonald and Johnstone in 2003.

Eyes on the arc TODAY's racing in France and Ireland tends to be some of the most interesting and informative of the Flat racing year, but as well as the Prix de l'Arc de Triomphe trials at Longchamp and the juvenile race of the season at The Curragh for the National Stakes, there's also a cracking little race at Goodwood as well for the Select Stakes.

All eyes will be on ante-post Arc favourite Zarkava's first attempt at a mile-and-a-half in the Prix Vermeille but the problem with these French Arc trials, including the Prix Niel and Prix Foy which are also set for today, is the likely pace. Zarkava may well win turning handsprings but will her stamina have been truly tested if they canter to the home straight and then have a little sprint which she's more than fast enough to win?

Of her most likely Arc rivals in three weeks' time, New Approach played his hand in last Sunday's Irish Champion Stakes and Getaway sealed his proposed partnership with Frankie Dettori by winning his trial with some authority. Waiting in the wings though is the likely sole Ballydoyle challenger, Soldier Of Fortune, which goes straight to the Arc.

Last year's fifth has improved on a line through the 2007 runner-up Youmzain and with the Coronation Cup bagged early doors he's been trained solely for Longchamp. Stablemate Duke Of Marmalade is still in the race but the vibes from County Tipperary suggest this season's superstar has done enough to allow Coolmore to let them improve another potential stallion's credentials.

The O'Brien team have more pressing business at The Curragh this afternoon where Ballydoyle provides five of the eight runners in the National Stakes. The ongoing plan for world domination isn't faring too badly, but on the evidence of a race I witnessed over course and distance last month, the John Oxx-trained Arazan looks the bet to see off the Ballydoyle battalion.

Arazan is no stranger to beating O'Brien horses as he took on five of them last time in a 10-runner field and looked a serious racehorse when sluicing up in impressive style. He'll do for me today although I'd like to have Ballydoyle on side with Zulu Chief in the Group 3 event earlier on the card, in which O'Brien saddles three runners.

Almost as interesting as events in Kildare and Paris though is Goodwood's Select Stakes which brings together the very smart Bankable, this column's ante-post Cambridgeshire selection Indian Days and one-time 1000 Guineas fancy Muthabara. Bankable is rated Group 1 material by connections and has some very smart form to his name already, while if Indian Days is good enough to repeat a recent course win in a handicap, you can expect his Cambridgeshire price to collapse - something which might happen anyway if he finishes close up.

The form horse, though, has to be Muthabara, which finished a close fifth in one of the Group 1 races of the season during Glorious Goodwood. That form with Halfway To Heaven and Lush Lashes is top drawer and I'm hoping the bookmakers price her up based on her most recent run at Deauville when she never got going at all.

Jumping to it IT doesn't take much to make me start thinking about the jumping season but last week's arrival of Timeform's Chasers and Hurdlers quickened the pulse in a week when Nigel Twiston-Davies sent out a winner which had the look of a horse bound for Cheltenham's opening meeting of the season in the middle of next month. Andrew Nick was the beast in question and the way the six-year-old won at Uttoxeter on Thursday, after making his chasing debut at Perth earlier in the year, suggested that the Naunton-based handler has unearthed the kind of improving young novice chaser which he loves to aim at this particular meeting.