Andy Holding's Thursday Horse Racing Tips

As the likes of Neon Wolf, Air Horse One, Over To Sam and, more recently, Any Drama have proved, Harry Fry clearly has a decent team of young novice hurdlers and in the shape of BAGS GROOVE (best price 11-2), the Dorset handler has another climbing his way up the ranks. A useful bumper horse, the son of Oscar made a promising start to his hurdling career with two solid performances against decent opposition at Newbury and despite finding Taunton’s quicker ground and tighter track slightly against him, he took advantage of a decent opportunity handed his way on his most recent outing. Although he has a little to find strictly on form, he shapes like there could be more to come and having bypassed the Betfair Hurdle in order to come here instead, that decision could well turn out to be a fruitful one come 2.30. It would also come as no surprise to see TOMMY RAPPER (best price 6-1) go well at rewarding odds as his form behind subsequent Grade 2 Warwick scorer, willoghby Court, has worked out so spectacularly well since. A late withdrawal due to heavy ground at Leicester last week, Dan Skelton’s inmate probably has more talent that his current rating of 132 suggests and even though his long-term aim this season is the EBF Final at Sandown, this looks a good opportunity for connections to find out whether their charge is up to listed class.

Any horse that runs well against the bias from a wide draw on the dirt deserves to be massively upgraded so TOP SCORE (NAP) (best price 11-4), third in the UAE 2000 Guineas Trial on his Dubai debut from stall 12 came out of that contest with a huge amount of credit. Dwelling slightly coming out of the stalls, the son of Hard Spun was then forced to cover more ground than any horse in the race around the top bend, so it was to his great credit that he kept on bravely swimming against the tide in the home straight in a race that was run at a furious gallop throughout. With his stable mate, Fly At Dawn, likely to represent the Godolphin banner in the Guineas itself in a few weeks, connections have decided to switch their charge back to a surface which served Saeed Bin Suroor’s charge well when seen in the UK and in a race that doesn’t look the strongest on paper, he should be able to take advantage of this decent opportunity from his favourable inside draw.

The best sprint on the figures run on the straight track so far was the 6f handicap won by Baccarat 14 days, so even though both MASTERMIND (best price 16-1) and JAMESIE (best price 12-1) were well held in fifth and sixth respectively, they still come out well on the numbers in the context of this race. The former, dropping in trip following a reasonable run behind Flash Fire the time before, showed up prominently until getting outpointed in the latter stages, but he still ran well enough to suggest he can be competitive in races of this nature throughout the carnival. The latter, although getting a little long in the tooth, still retains all his old enthusiasm and after getting outpaced mid-race here last time, he impressed by the way he stuck his head down and kept on battling all the way to the line. Although still yet to land one of these 6f handicap out in the desert, he’s hit the frame on three attempts in five starts and he looks booked to go well again from his favourable middle draw.

Although FLASH FIRE (best price 7-4) got beat when a short-priced favourite here last time, he was unlucky to bump into the highly-progressive Championship who lowered the 7f track record, and he’s strongly fancied to get back on track now racing back in handicap company. Better than ever when storming to victory in a fast time first time off the plane previously, Charlie Appleby’s charge has plenty in his favour to repeat the dose.

Despite Godolphin having a strong hand here with four, well-fancied runners, HORS DE COMBAT (best price 8-1) appeals as the one most likely to upset the boys in blue following a promising effort on his UAE debut. Having his first run since switching from James Fanshawe to Denis Coakley, the son of Mount Nelson ran a blinder to finish a close-up second to the useful turf horse Fanciful Angel off the back of a 132-day absence, and now likely to be a little sharper for that initial run this time around, he can be expected to go well again from his favourable inside draw.