Andy Holding's Tuesday Racing Tips

CHEF D’EQUIPE (best price 2-1) is better known for his exploits over fences, but such was the manner of his victory on his return to hurdles last time out that he’s fancied to repeat the dose despite this being a slightly deeper race, opposition-wise. A brave runner-up in a red-hot novices’ handicap at Newbury previously, Philip Hobbs’ gelding looked to have been found a fairly soft race back over the smaller obstacles at the West Country track but he still impressed in the way he totally bossed his four rivals right from the start. Making all the running, the son of Presenting clocked a pretty useful set of numbers considering it turned into personal time-trial from a long way out, and likely to be ridden in a similar fashion here this afternoon, the seven-year-old should prove hard to catch if his Corinthian pilot gets the fractions right from the front.

A good deal of interest will surround useful Flat performer Erik The Red on his hurdling debut, but whether he’ll be good enough to cope with the more-experienced ELVIS MAIL (NAP) (best price 7-4) is open to question and Nick Alexander’s gelding is strongly fancied to force home his track advantage gained from his recent C&D victory. In a race run at a fair tempo at the Northumberland venue, the five-year-old caught the eye the way he tanked his way to the front leaving the back straight and even though it was a pretty long way from home for him to maintain those strong fractions, he managed to do so with interest. In pulling steadily clear of his rivals without exactly being fully extended, the son of Great Pretender ended up posting some pretty eye-popping figures for a horse of his grade, and providing this powerful chasing type can be switched off in the early stages (can take a grip), it will take a useful performance by one of his rivals to lower his colours.

A complex little handicap with quite a few different permutations to unravel, but there’s a decent chance that FALCON SUN (best price 11-4) and WORKING CLASS (best price 7-1) will have a large say in matters and they are both worth playing against the field.

The former seems to have got his act together ever since blinkers have helped focus his mind and his victory over today’s C&D last time out certainly wasn’t coming out of turn. Despite racing keenly at the Midland track, Dan Skelton’s gelding had enough in reserve to stay on strongly in the latter stages and his winning time suggested it wasn’t a bad effort by the lightly-raced five-year-old. Clearly effective on fast ground also, the son of Falco is likely to put his valuable track experience to good use.

The latter hasn’t got as much latent ability of a few of his main market rivals, but he comes across as being quite a game individual and his latest efforts have seen those qualities shine through. A hard-fought success at Fakenham two starts ago was backed up with another brave performance in defeat at Wincanton last time out and today’s good ground should ensure Oliver Sherwood’s inmate has ideal conditions for him to put up another bold show.

MAM TRASNA (best price 4-1) was nicely backed prior to his debut in a bumper at Punchestown (50-1 into 10-1) and even though he got well and truly put in his place, he still ran well enough to suggest those that backed him at big odds won’t have to wait too much longer for him to justify their opinions. Despite the small field at the Co Kildare venue, they went a good pace throughout and it was noticeable that David Broad’s gelding was one of the few still on the bridle as the field turned for home. From that point onwards, however, the son of Morozov didn’t have the gears to go with the main two, but as the pair in question were Champion Bumper favourite Malone Road and the highly-regarded Mt Leinster (also prominent in same Cheltenham lists), he can be largely forgiven on that score. Similarly, the five-year-old is likely to be facing some useful pieces of kit from powerful stables in his bid to get off the mark today, but at least he has the grounding of a well-run heat under his belt and that initial experience is bound to count for plenty in the final analysis.