Andy Holding's Wednesday Racing Tips

The early signs so far this season is the Harry Whittington yard appears to be over the virus which ravaged their runners by and large during the last campaign and that’s good news for one of his stable stars BIGMARTRE (best price 5-2) as he makes his eagerly-awaited chasing debut this afternoon. Although he managed to score on his seasonal return back in December, the son of Montmatre never really found the same level of form in three subsequent outings over hurdles and stumps were pulled after he disappointing in one of the big handicaps at the Grand National meeting at Aintree. However, now his yard seems to be in much better shape, confidence is high that he can make an immediate impact over the larger obstacles and providing his jumping technique comes up to scratch first time out, he has the run style to be a pretty potent force around today’s sharp track.

TRUE COMPANION (best price 7-2) blew his chance at the start at Listowel last time out and he’s fancied to get back on track returning to the scene of his previous C&D victory. Despite being a long way behind at the Limerick Junction venue, Adrian Joyce’s inmate did remarkably well to finish a close-up third the more prominently ridden Count Of Carabass and that at least went someway to highlight his current wellbeing. Prior to that creditable effort, the son of Fast Company had proven his liking for tyoday’s track and heavy ground with a decisive victory and with similar conditions in place this afternoon, the four-year-old will be better placed than most to cope with the test at hand.

INDIAN CHIEF (NAP) (best price 4-1) really ought to have won here last week and compensation awaits Rebecca Bastiman’s charge returning to a track that has by and large served him well in the past. Other than one slight blip on his dance card, the seven-year-old has been in consistent form throughout the last few months and victories at Hamilton and Beverley have been intertwined by many other praiseworthy placed efforts in defeat. Indeed, his latest performance over today’s C&D seven days ago would have seen a one next to his name instead of a two if he’d enjoyed a better rub of the green inside the last two furlongs, but the effort didn’t go unnoticed by those of us that compile speed figures and he clearly still remains bang on top of his game on the evidence of that unfortunate display.

David O’Meara is finishing off the season with a bang and ROYAL RESEVRE (best price 8-1) has a decent chance of providing the in-form handler with another winner. Even though the son of Duke Of Marmalade has some useful form on the turf, his best performances have been achieved on an all-weather surface of late and his effort when scoring over today’s course has to rank of one of his better displays. In a well-run affair, the four-year-old was always travelling best and showing a smart turn of foot in the closing stages he eased his way past a decent field in the style of a horse worth keeping on side.