Andy Holding's Sunday Racing Tips

Jason Watson and Roger Charlton teamed up to land a nice three-year-old handicap with Ragnar at Sandown on Friday and the duo look poised to close to repeating the dose with CAMBRIC (NAP) (best price 7-2) on her debut in this sphere.

Too green to do herself justice on both starts as a two-year-old, the daughter of Australia was pitched into a hot Newbury novice event on her seasonal bow and although she never had any chance of remotely figuring at the business end given how far behind she was at halfway, she did more than enough to suggest there’s plenty to work on for the future. Towards the rear with four furlongs to run, she came home nicely from that point to finish a respectable seventh of the 18-strong field and with several coming out of the race subsequently to prove the value of the form since (Admirals Bay beaten 23 lengths won off 57), it would come as little surprise if this lightly-raced filly carved her own narrative in races of this nature going forward off a perch of just 61.

FIT FOR FUNCTION (best price 6-1) failed in his bid to follow up his previous success over today’s C&D at Listowel last time out, but his effort in defeat could hardly be described as a massive disappointment given the time figure was so good and he’s fancied to put up another bold show at a track that clearly suits his eye.

Not a prolific winner by any means, Joe Murphy’s gelding, however, does pop up every now and then in races of this nature and his victory here back in May highlights what he can do when he’s in the groove. Always going well that day, the son of Captain Gerrard quickened nicely to seal the deal inside the final two furlongs and housed favoured this afternoon in stall two right next to the inside fence means he should have every chance of repeating the dose if he’s stalking the pace rounding the home turn.

WHATHARM (best price 14-1) showed the first glimmers of promise over today’s course last time out and although there’s a slight suspicion that he may require further than today’s trip to be fully effective, his price more than compensates for the risk taken.

Unplaced and not remotely involved in five previous outings, his performance here 18 days ago came as a little bit of a bolt out of the blue, although it has to be noted that two of his better shows did come at the Co Kilkenny venue last season. Either way, the way he finished off his race after travelling noticeably well towards the rear of the field didn’t go completely missed and Pat Flynn’s scopey son of Canford Cliffs certainly exhibited enough ability to suggest there’s a small race in him somewhere.

TIMEMAKESITFINE (best price 6-1) ran an extraordinary race here last time out considering how much ground she gave away at the start and providing she can break somewhere on terms with the pack on her return visit this afternoon, there’s every chance she will end up outrunning her morning odds.

Doing her best impression of a Hamlet cigar advert, Jessica Harrington’s filly gave away at least 20 lengths to her rivals as the stalls crashed back and, as a result, she was a long way detached at halfway. To her ultimate credit, not only did she make up the lost leeway, she actually ran on strongly through beaten horses to finish a never-nearer seventh and with the overall time figure of the race good and her separate time trial numbers suggesting she’d run to a fairly high level, the daughter of Lope De Vega clearly has a huge amount of ability and potential if she can overcome her stall phobia.

LANDING ZONE (best price 16-1) never has a chance of justifying heavy market support in his direction after fluffing the start over today’s C&D last time out and he’s afforded another opportunity to see what he can do now on handicap debut.

Promising in several previous other outings, Sheila Lavery’s colt was quite rightly high on the shortlist to break his duck here 18 days ago, but after being well behind at halfway and racing into a track bias that very much favoured the prominent racers that night, he never overcame the unequal struggle. Back to the scene of that slightly unfortunate development, the son of Elzaam will obviously need to break cleaner to figure against hard-knocking handicappers – even more so from his wide draw – but providing he can hit the lids and work himself into a better position, he has a fair chance of outrunning his morning quotes.