Andy Holding's Wednesday Horse Racing Tips

Without wanting to come across as following TAKE THE HELM (best price 11-2) off a cliff, he surely has to be worth another chance after what happened to him here in a similar race last time out. Nicely backed at big odds 26 days ago, Brian Meehan’s was one of the chief sufferers in what turned out to be an extremely slowly-run race for the grade and as he finished full of running without ever coming out of third gear, one would like to believe he would have gone close to winning in a more evenly run contest and with a smoother passage down the lane. Undoubtedly well-handicapped on the pick of his form here last season, the son of Monsieur Bond can hopefully prove his worth this time around with a fairer rub of the green.

KIRTLING best price 15-2) showed a nice change of pace for a horse of his grade when scoring with a bit to spare at Newcastle last time out and he can go close to winning his third race from four starts in this similar handicap. As is often the case, Andi Brown’s was slowly into stride at the Gosforth Park venue, but under a well-timed challenge from Martin Lane, the five-year-old grey rattled past his rivals in a very short space of time (very good sectionals for last four furlongs) and was in total command before idling in the latter stages. Likely to be ridden with similar confidence by the same pilot again this afternoon, expect the Araafa gelding to be making his move coming down the hill where his momentum will hopefully catapult him in to the thick end of the action late on.

GENERAL HAZARD (NAP) (best price 10-11) really came of age when scoring in the style of a rapidly-improved performer at Wolverhampton five days ago and he rates a solid wager to follow up that success under his mandatory penalty. Clearly well suited by racing beyond a mile, Michael Bell’s inmate found a rare turn of foot in the closing stages after looking in trouble rounding the home turn and nicely housed in the stall one this afternoon, hopefully he can get the run of the race around the inner before being asked to seal the deal again late on.

There doesn’t appear to be any world-beaters on show in this ordinary-looking maiden, so a chance is taken on ALL ABOUT GRACE (best price 10-1) and NAM (best price 40-1) improving enough off the back of their promising debuts to figure more significantly second time around. The former shaped like many newcomers trained by Micky Halford first time out - running on nicely at the end without being unduly punished – so despite Shane Foley deserting her in favour of Yulong Xiongyin, there’s more than a modicum of hope that she can gain a podium finish at least. The latter wouldn’t jump off the page to most, but he did run more than respectably in a red-hot maiden towards the back end of the Flat turf season, and with the third and fifth out of that race both running well on their subsequent outings at this track, 33-1 is big enough to find out whether Thomas Mullins’ inmate can emulate that duo on his next start despite his horrid wide draw.