Andy Holding's Wednesday Racing Tips

LEAPAWAY (best price 7-1) turned into a proper money-spinner during last season’s summer jumping campaign and on the evidence of his comeback effort at Plumpton recently, Philip Hobbs’ gelding looks set to enjoy another fruitful period in races of this nature.

A winner of five races on the spin on fast ground between June and September, the seven-year-old was probably feeling the effects of those exertions when slightly under par on his final two starts in the Autumn. Back to the fray off the back of a 182-day layoff, the son of Stowaway showed more than enough by finishing a respectable third behind the revitalised Fiesole to indicate brighter times ahead and with that initial outing likely to have brought him back to somewhere near peak fitness, a big run is anticipated on ground and track that will suit.

For those of who got stuck into APRES LE DELUGE (NAP) (best price 9-4) at Leicester when last seen back in December, it’s a bit of a surprise to see Hughie Morrison’s inmate in a race of this nature – even more so at this time of year - but that fact that he does show up way ahead of time suggests he’s been going well at home, so with that in mind, he has to be worth a decent interest off what appears a very workable handicap mark.

A winner of a bumper on his racecourse debut at Hereford back in 2017, the son of Stormy River wasn’t seen out until making his eagerly-awaited hurdling bow at Exeter 356 days later and little did we know at the time, but the race in question turned out to be one of the hottest pieces of novice form during the winter. The runaway winner, Getaway Trump, rounded off his season with a victory off top weight in a competitive contest at Sandown and is now rated 155, and the sixth home at the West Country venue, Musical Slave, ended his campaign by winning the valuable Adare Manor series at Punchestown off a perch of 121 and is currently 128. Add into the mix, the likes of runner-up, Tedham now rated 131, and the well-beaten pair, Samarquand (135) and Remastered (133) and you can see what a deep race it was by the track standards.

Well backed to vindicate his excellent fourth-place finish that day, the five-year-old grey didn’t quite live up to expectations at the Midland track three weeks later, finishing his race off a bit meekly, but when you consider he was up against the likes of subsequent Ballymore third Bright Forecast (now rated 149) and the hitherto impressive Newbury novice hurdle winner Humble Hero (131), it’s easy to cut him a bit of slack. Moreover, he was probably still feeling the effects of that previous hard race and that’s another reason why he may have not been able to perform to his best. Given plenty of time to recover and mature, he still has time to develop along the right lines and this appears a fair starting point for his comeback. The only slight concern would be today’s quicker surface as two of his best efforts have taken place on soft ground, but at the same time, there’s no way connections would risk such a nice long-term prospect if they didn’t feel as though he wouldn’t handle the conditions. Either way, on all known evidence, he seems to have got away with a very lenient opening handicap mark of just 114 and it would be disappointing to say the least if he wasn’t capable of holding his own against tonight’s opposition.

LEXINGTON EMPIRE (best price 11-2) continued his rapid improvement on the all-weather with another resounding success at Chelmsford last time out and he’s fancied to acquit himself with distinction in this much tougher assignment.

Heading into that competitive little handicap at the Essex venue off the back of a 204-day absence, the son of Intello was well-supported to overcome the layoff and in doing so he clocked the sort of numbers to suggest the handicapper has some catching up to do. Always travelling well, David Lanigan’s gelding quickened up in impressive fashion in the closing stages to leave his toiling rivals for dead and with tonight’s classier field likely to go the sort of gallop that he requires to perform at his best, he can be held onto before pouncing late in the day.