Andy Holding's Saturday Racing Tips

Given the manner of victory of TEXAN NOMAD (best price 9-2) at Wincanton last weekend, it’s a wonder why he’d taken so long to get off the mark, but now that he has finally managed to get his head in front, Ronald Harris’ gelding is fancied to stay firmly in the winning lane. Held up off the back of strong fractions at the West Country venue, the seven-year-old found himself with plenty to do coming out of the back straight, but with a powerful late surge inside the final half a mile, he readily mowed down his opposition to win going away.  Little headstrong in the past, clearly the fast pace seven days ago helped him settle early and finish off his race well in the latter stages and if the race and tactics pan out the same this time around, the son of Nomadic Way can repeat the dose.

The feature of the Pertemps Qualifier at Leopardstown over the Christmas period was the strong pace throughout and having showed up well to finish a creditable fourth in what should turn out to be a valuable source of winners down the line, SATOSHI (NAP) (best price 9-4) rates a strong choice to vindicate that view in this much less taxing affair. Held up towards the rear of the 23-strong field, Gordon Elliot’s gelding began to make headway as the runners came out of the back straight and although he couldn’t sustain his effort all the way to the line in comparison to some, he still ran hard all the way to the line. Looking at the numbers for that race at the Dublin venue, they reveal that the main players were trapping along at a quicker rate than Grade 1 winner Apples Jade on the same card, so armed with that information as a guide, it really would be quite disappointing if the son of Shirocco were to come up short against this sort of opposition.

KILDORRERY (best price 5-1) has taken really well to chasing and even though he lacks the experience of some of the more established names, he has enough quality to take advantage off his opening handicap mark of 132. A useful hurdler, Ted Walsh’s inmate, however, always looked as though he was the type to improve from the larger obstacles and he wasted no time to back up that view when scoring at his first attempt at Punchestown. In beating Duca De Thaix that afternoon, he won with a bit up his sleeve and with his conqueror going on to land a valuable handicap at Fairyhouse on his latest outing off a perch of 133, it clearly isn’t beyond the realms of possibility that this chap will follow suit. Often given exaggerated waiting tactics, hopefully the son of Arakan won’t be asked to make up a ridiculous amount of ground in the closing stages and if that proves to be the case, he should go close to make a winning handicap debut under ideal conditions.

CHAMPAGNE COURT (best price 12-1) is surely better than what he showed at Ascot last time out and he’s worth a small speculator to see whether he can erase the ghost of what happened to him 22 days ago. Fourth in a red-hot bumper at Cheltenham on his seasonal reappearance back in October, Jeremy Scott’s gelding was well-backed to make a winning hurdling debut at Lingfield on his next start and the market proved spot on as he romped to an easy success. Pitched into Grade 2 company at Ascot last time out, the son of Court Cave was still bang in contention when a slow jump at the second last (usual fourth last) caused him to lose ground at a vital stage of the race and from that point onwards he was always fighting a losing battle. Moreover, the soft ground and two-mile trip probably in hindsight didn’t really suit and now given a chance to make amends under optimum conditions, the six-year-old looks set to outrun his morning odds.

Jumping well, racing handily and getting into a good early rhythm are often the key components to success in these big staying handicap chases and with COGRY (best price 15-2) fitting all the necessary criteria outlined, the durable 10-year-old makes quite a bit of appeal at the morning prices.

Back in the day, Nigel Twiston-Davies’ gelding was always susceptible to the odd bad mistake and while it’s not very often that he’s totally error-free, he seems a safer and more reliable conveyance in recent times. Indeed, his jumping was one of the main reasons why he managed to see it out from the front when scoring at Cheltenham last time out and that effort was off the back of two solid performances in similar races at the same track. Runner-up in this contest last year when he chased the eventual winner, Milansbar, all the way through, that fine display solidified his overall record at the Midland venue and providing he gets a flyer as the tapes go back and either leads or at the very least sits on the shoulders of the pace, the son of King’s Theatre is fancied to put up another bold bid.

Plenty of aching joints and brittle minds on show here, but that can’t be said about the lightly-raced and less damaged goods that is GLEN ROCCO (best price 3-1) and he rates a strong choice to take advantage of his favourable mark. A useful hurdler, Nick Gifford’s inmate, however, has really come on in leaps and bounds since sent over fences and following a gutsy success over subsequent winner, Diplomate Sivola in a fast time at Fontwell on his second chase start earlier in the campaign, he’s gone on to run two commendable races in a couple of red-hot novice handicaps. Indeed, his latest of those performances when he came up against a possible Cheltenham festival winner in the shape of Glen Forsa was about as solid as it gets form wise, and with proven experience around today’s track also seen as a positive, the son of Shirocco appears to have quite a few strings to his bow.