Andy Holding's Thursday Racing Tips

BLACK SALT (best price 11-8) took the breath away with the manner of his winning performance over the C&D last time out and while in that sort of mood, it’s difficult to oppose David Barron’s in-form sprinter. A smooth winner on his first try at the Midland venue back in November, the son of Equiano was well backed to repeat the dose on his return visit 23 days ago, and despite giving away plenty of ground racing wide from his early outside post, he still managed to find a turn of foot in-keeping with a horse who’d just joined in at the three-furlong pole.

The fact that he made the previous easy C&D winner, Angel Palanas, look decidedly slow in the closing stages bears testimony to the performance (36.6 split) and with today’s small field likely to ensure that he’s not too far off the speed, it will take a decent one to hold on to his coat tails down the stretch. 

BRECON HILL (NAP) (best price 6-5) tried his utmost to back up his previous victory at Huntingdon last time out, but as it turned out, Sarah Humphrey’s gelding faced in impossible task up against Brewin’Upastorm, who has gone to finish a creditable fourth in Grade 1, and today’s task should rate a fair more realistic one.

Racing in a first-time tongue-tie at the Cambridgeshire venue back in November, the son of Arcano ran out an impressive winner of what looked an above-average affair for the track and with the speed figure backing up that view, he was fully entitled to tackle something more substantial.

Although he came up just short 32 days ago, he once again posted a smart set of numbers when filling out the runner-up spot and with the likes of both Winston C and Flash The Steel also going on to advertise the strength of the form, it would be disappointing if he wasn’t capable of carrying the torch and his career further forward.

HOLY KINGDOM (best price 9-1 W/Out Fav) shaped with plenty of promise over today’s course on debut and although it’s probably asking him a fair question to go and lower the colours of several promising types on just his second outing, he certainly showed enough that day to suggest he’s at least the capabilities to outrun his odds.

Slowly away 21 days ago, the son of Australia found himself with plenty to do at halfway and although he showed plenty of greenness in the latter stages, he still managed to rescue the situation and finish a creditable fifth behind the experience Mister Chiang.

Moreover, the time figure of the race was such that even getting beaten four lengths still represented a fair standard on his opening bow and with today’s step up in trip set to suit both in terms of how he shaped first time and on pedigree, the three-year-old is worth a stab in the ‘without the favourite’ market.

In a very short space of time Joseph O’Brien has pretty much conquered most aspects of the training game, with the one exception of a winner out in Dubai, but that might change in the not too distant future and in the shape of KING’S FIELD (best price 10-1), the Co Kilkenny handler could see his vision turn into reality.

A late developer, the son of Kodiac only made his debut last September, but following a couple of sighters to work out what the game was all about, he’s quickly established himself as a player at the top table. Following impressive victories at Cork and Dundalk, the four-year-old colt was pitched into pattern company for the first time at Leopardstown and although the form book says he could only finish sixth of the eight-strong field, it may have been a totally different story had he received anything like a clear run inside the last two furlongs.

Undone by the way the race panned out on his return to Dundalk two starts ago, he showed what he can when he gets a strong pace to run at by easily gunned down his opponents in a fast-run mile back in early December. Now rated 105, he’s obviously run out of races to contest back at home for the foreseeable future so bringing him over to the bright lights of Meydan seems the only logical option for a horse who is clearly at the top of his game at present.

Although he faces plenty of stern rivals – particularly from the locally-trained contingent who are bound to be revved up – the likely strong pace and long home straight should suit this deep-closer who has to be worth a small speculator at the prices to see whether he’s good enough to cut the mustard.