Saturday afternoon sees a maximum field of 25 line up for the biggest flat contest of the Scottish racing year. Ayr Racecourse is the venue, as the runners and riders do battle for £180,000 in the Ayr Gold Cup.
Always one of the hottest sprint contests of the year, no fewer than 201 runners remained in contention ahead of the final declarations on Thursday. With only 25 places up for grabs, many hopefuls have been rerouted to the Ayr Silver Cup and Ayr Bronze Cup earlier at the meeting. However, one horse who is sure to go for gold is the current market leader, Northern Ticker. Hailing from the yard of Michael Dods, the three-year-old boasts not only talent but also one of the most interesting back stories ahead of this year’s contest.
Named in Honour of Owner’s Heart
Northern Ticker officially runs in the colours of Sekura Group, and the man behind the hugely successful PVC windows and doors company is Charlie Hill. Formerly an engineer and deep-sea diver in the Royal Navy, Hill has been based in Wearside for each of his 78 years. As such, the “Northern” element of the horse’s moniker takes little explaining – another of Hills’ horses, Northern Express, also holds an Ayr Gold Cup entry.
While the first half of the horse’s name is a mere nod to geography, the “Ticker” part takes a little more explaining. This story is best told by the man who endured the unfortunate series of events which led to the Northern Ticker moniker – Charlie Hill.
“The valve from my heart was leaking so I went to hospital for an operation to replace the valve without open-heart surgery. When they do the operation, they stop your heart for ten seconds to put the valve in, but my heart kicked off after three seconds and it blew the valve out. It went into my throat and got stuck there, so they had to do an emergency operation on my throat and then give me open-heart surgery and put another valve in.”
Quite an ordeal by any standards – one which left Hill in intensive care for 12 days and required another 18 months to fully recover from. It was at a check-up during this recovery period that the name Northern Ticker was born, as Charlie relates.
“When I told the guy I’d bought a horse and didn’t know what to call it, he said, ‘Why not Northern Ticker, as I’m scanning your ticker?” So that’s how it came about.”
Rising Through the Ranks
Freshly named, Northern Ticker made an excellent start at the track, winning two of his first three juvenile starts before finishing a close third in the Listed William Hill Two-Year-Old Trophy.
Dropped back into handicap company in 2025, he needed the outing first time out at York but improved to finish fourth in a competitive event at Hamilton. The son of Mehmas then shot to the head of the market for this with a cosy success at the York Ebor Festival.
A great finish to our finale!
Northern Ticker takes the Sky Bet Constantine Handicap! ✅ pic.twitter.com/OVEDPAMs3W
— ITV Racing (@itvracing) August 23, 2025
Northern Ticker gets in under a 5lb penalty, which makes life tougher, but it may not be enough to halt his rapid progression. Hill sounded a note of optimism when stating:
“Michael Dods is dying to win the Ayr Gold Cup, and he thinks he has the best chance yet of doing it with Northern Ticker.”
First Place at Last for Dods?
The experienced Dods has sent numerous challengers north in pursuit of Ayr Gold Cup glory. As yet, none have returned with the trophy. The Darlington-based handler has come pretty close in the past, with Barney McGrew going down by just a head when second in 2009 and Commanche Falls filling the same position in 2022.
Northern Express provided Hill with his biggest success to date when claiming the £150,000 International Stakes at Ascot in 2024. That victory no doubt gave the owner a welcome boost during his health issues. With his heart now restored to working order, could Northern Ticker take his red and green silks to the winners’ enclosure once again? Hill was keen to keep things in perspective ahead of the big race.
“We’re going on Thursday and having a nice long weekend in Ayr. We go up every year, it’s a good weekend away. I’ll be over the moon if he wins, but it’s just part of life.”