After an absence of more than three months, racing returns in Scotland with a bumper nine-race card at Ayr today.

While racing in England resumed earlier this month, it was only last week that the British Horseracing Authority and the Scottish government confirmed that the sport was able to return as the nation moves into phase two of its Covid-19 plan.

The feature event on the card is the Listed Land O’Burns Fillies’ Stakes (5f), which has attracted a field of 12 including the Michael Dods-trained Queens Gift, who warmed up for this event with a fifth-placed effort behind Far Above in the Group 3 Palace Stakes earlier this month.

Queens Gift will line up against her stablemate Que Amoro and the Robert Cowell-trained Ishvara, who took a 5f handicap at Haydock and showed good determination to hold off the fast-finishing Royal Context.

Racing also takes place today at Thirsk and Windsor while in Ireland, Roscommon stage a Flat meeting and Limerick race over jumps.

Breeze for Craven and Ascot Sale to take place

The breezes for the combined Tattersalls Craven and Ascot Breeze-Up Sales will take place at Newmarket’s Rowley Mile racecourse from 9am today.

Two-year-olds catalogued for the Craven will breeze first and will be followed by the Ascot juveniles shortly after. Both breezes will be shown on the Tattersalls and Tattersalls Ascot Sale Day Live pages.

The combined auction will take place on Thursday, starting at 11am.

Death of Shake The Bucket

Shake The Bucket, who ran a total of 117 times in an eight-year career for trainer Niall Madden, has died after suffering a heart attack at the age of 13.

The winner of 15 races, Shake The Bucket recorded ten of those victories at Dundalk as well as notching a point-to-point success, three hurdle wins and two chase successes.

Madden, speaking to the Racing Post, said: “He was flying at home and I was hoping to run him on Monday at Limerick. He’d been working brilliantly and it’s just a shame.

“He popped a few hurdles the other morning and had been working well but he suffered a heart attack. He was a star, winning on the Flat, over hurdles, fences and a point-to-point.”