Andy Holding's Saturday Racing Tips

PASS THE GIN (best price 3-1) hasn’t enjoyed the rub of the green in both her two starts this season and compensation awaits with everything now in her favour. An eye-catcher first time out at Sandown over five-furlongs when she flashed home from the back of the field, Andrew Balding’s filly fell foul of the draw at Chester last time in a similar race when stepped back up in trip. Forced to race wide at crucial stages on the Roodee, the three-year-old still kept on well to finish a never-nearer fourth, and with today’s conditions and stall position a good deal kinder, she has a fine chance of adding to her only success thus far over the C&D last season.

BLAIRMAYNE (best price 11-1) has yet to win at the Curragh, but to his credit, he has managed to finish in the frame in seven of his nine visits to the Co Kildare track and following an encouraging effort at Naas on his opening start to the campaign, he rates a decent bet to hit the board here once again.

Having travelled well 14 days ago, the son of Zebedee met a little bit of mild interference which set him back at a crucial stage and although he kept on well enough late on, he couldn’t muster the finishing kick of some of the main players. Likely to be all the better for that initial outing, Natalia Lupini’s gelding should figure prominently from his favourable middle draw.

BEAT LE BON (best price 7-1) did well to finish as close as he did at Newmarket last time out after missing the kick, so providing Richard Hannon’s colt can break on terms this time around, he should be capable of offering more in terms of impacting the outcome.

Taking a while to find his stride after dwelling at the Cambridgeshire venue, Richard Hannon’s inmate found himself in last place with a mountain to climb at halfway, but in finishing his race off well up towards the nearside fence away from where the main action took place, he somehow managed to salvage something from the wreckage. Clearly, that sort of trip on quick ground proved far from ideal for the son of Wootton Basset, but now back arguably back under his optimum conditions, this useful three-year-old has a fine chance to post a good performance from a decent draw.

MUNHAMEK (best price 12-1) has just sneaked into this valuable prize by the skin of his teeth, but his good fortune will hopefully not be totally squandered if he can run to the same level he achieved at Thirsk last time out. Lightly-raced, Ivan Furtado’s gelding heads into a race of this nature very much one of the unknown quantities of the field, but the numbers he posted in victory at the Yorkshire track 26 days ago suggests he’s likely to prove better than just a bit-part player. In what turned out to be a keenly-contest and well-run novice event, the son of Dark Angel showed a bright turn of speed to scamper away from his five rivals in a short space of time and in keeping up the gallop all the way to the line, he scored with a bit more in hand than the official margin suggests. Running the last three furlongs over a second quicker than the two 6f handicaps run on the same card, this improving three-year-old clearly has a useful engine and even though he lacks the experience to tackle a race of this nature, hopefully his latent talent will shine through.

The form figures of SPRUCE MEADOWS (best price 16-1) of late suggest he’s regressive, but he ran a good deal better that the bare result implies at Limerick last time out and he’s worth a tilt in the ring at a big price to see whether he can rekindle the old flame.

A real big-time operator on the all-weather at Dundalk at his peak, John Feane’s gelding didn’t really show a great deal during three runs during this winter and he was given a 64 days break before returning to action on the turf at the Greenmount Park venue. Dropped back to a mile for the first time for some time, the six-year-old was surprisingly well-backed beforehand in expectation of a good run and even though he only finished seventh of the 13-strong field, that only reveals half the story. Making notable and promising headway approaching the two-furlong pole, the son of Intikhab got checked in his run on several occasions, so much so, that it’s hard not to come to the conclusion he would have had a major say in the final outcome with a clear run. Rewind the clock back a year, and you’ll also find he finished a close-up third to the useful Inscribe off a mark 14lb higher than today’s over today’s C&D, so it’s certainly not beyond the realms of possibility that this one-time smart sort can cause more of a stir than his morning odds suggest.

Monsieur Noir sets a fair standard and he’s likely to be hard to beat hailing from his red-hot stable, but SOMETHINGABOUTJACK (best price 15-2 w/o Monsieur Noir) has done more than enough in two starts to suggest he has plenty of ability of his own and he should turn out to be competitive whatever the fate of the favourite.

Promising when a not-knocked-about sixth in a useful novice event on debut at Kempton, Eve Johnson Houghton’s lightly-raced colt also pleased with the way he conducted himself on his latest outing at Doncaster. Having his first start on the turf, the son of No Nay Never kept on well in the closing stages to finish a creditable fourth behind the potentially smart Nahaarr and with the likelihood of even more to come with each racecourse visit, he makes plenty of appeal in the ‘without the favourite’ market.