Andy Holding's Thursday Racing Tips

MAZZINI (NAP) (best price 4-1) has been called one or two rude names in the past, but his detractors have certainly had to eat humble pie in recent times as the six-year-old has gone on the rampage, and on the evidence of his latest performance here in the desert 14 days ago, his upsurge in form may not be at an end just yet. 

Making his UAE debut over five-furlongs, the son of Exceed And Excel was quickly into his stride from his wide draw, and after taking the field along at a decent clip to halfway, he kept up the strong gallop all the way to the line. In doing so, he fended off the strongly-fancied pair Hit The Bid and Faatinah, who both had the benefit of a previous outing, and considering that was the first time he’d raced over the minimum trip, his effort certainly deserves plenty of praise.

Gathering further evidence from that display, it’s pretty clear that Fawzi Nass’ chestnut is at his best when allowed to bowl along from the front and with his wide draw again likely to allow him to solo run towards the middle of the track, there’s no obvious reason why he shouldn’t be a potent force again this afternoon. 

The race won by D’Bai was noted for its strong pace, so those that figured prominently in the final analysis are certainly worth close attention going forward and that’s very much the case where LANSKY (best price 7-1) is concerned in this similar race here today.

Having his first start since leaving Robert Cowell in the UK, the son of Dark Angel looked to have a very stiff task on paper, being drawn out in the car park in stall 12, but to his great credit he managed to work himself into the picture to hold every chance at the furlong pole. Unfortunately, the four-year-old didn’t have the finishing kick of the well-fancied Godolphin-trained runner at the business end, but he did keep on well enough to hold on to third place and that has to go down as a decent return under the circumstances (first run for 106 days).

Likely to be a good deal sharper in all departments here this afternoon, Sandeep Jadhav’s gelding should be good enough to feature prominently again if he gets a clear run through from his outside peg.