Andy Holding's Monday Horse Racing Tips

THE STATESMAN (best price 4-1) did more than enough on his debut at Newcastle for new connections to suggest the 90k purchase tag at the recent Horses In Training sale may turn out to be a decent bit of business in time and this looks a good opportunity for Jamie Osbourne’s charge to put 3k back into the coffers. Having his first outing for the Lambourn handler, the son of Zoffany proved no match for the impressive winner Middle Kingdom on the day, but he may have finished a little closer to the Gosden runner had he not been asked to explore a route down the un-favoured far side rail. In staying on nicely in the latter stages once off the kerb, he also indicated a step up in trip would suit in future and from a decent draw with plenty of experience under his belt, a podium finish looks assured at the very least.

There should be no shortage of pace on here with the likes of Bosham, Sign Of The Kodiac, Seve and Gracious John all in the line-up, so the obvious choice has to be ENCORE D’OR (best price 7-4) under a sit and pounce waiting ride. A smooth winner on his only visit to today’s C&D back in May, Robert Cowell’s inmate has been a bit patchy form-wise ever since, but he did bounce back to his very best last time out at Chelmsford when he easily mowed down a competitive field with a bit to spare. Hopefully, the son of Oasis Dream breaks well enough from his low stall to track the speed and when Gracious John edges off the fence (as he always does), he can cut the corner and make what should turn out to be a winning move from that juncture.

CALIVIGNY (NAP) (best price 4-1) made a perfectly satisfactory start to his chasing career in what is turning out to be a red-hot race at Carlisle 36 days ago and now returning to a track where he’s gone really well in the past, he makes plenty of appeal at his morning odds. As well documented by this column on several occasions, the time figure of the race won by Gurkha Brave at the Cumbrian venue was a very smart one for the grade and with the likes of Knockgraffon and Pistol Park both going on to advertise the form subsequently, it makes sense to have a go with Nick Alexandra’s charge who finished a close-up and honourable fifth. Even though the son of Gold Well finished outside the money, his final circuit time of 2.34.0 still bettered the one achieved by Seeyouatmidnight over the same C&D an hour later on the card (2.35.9), so off a mark 2lb lower over a course where he’s twice been successful in the past, it wouldn’t be the biggest shock in the world if he were to prove the pick of the stable’s three runners.