Andy Holding's Thursday Racing Tips

Faylaq looked a three-year-old some way ahead of the game when bolting up on handicap debut at Ripon last time out and he looks hard to oppose under his mandatory penalty, but the battle for minor honours looks wide open and ISOLATE (best price 7-2) may have the required qualities to make his presence felt in that little joust.

Promising on his first two starts, particularly his third behind the smart Eagles By Day at Salisbury, Martyn Meade’s colt got bogged down in the mud last time out when revisiting the Wiltshire track and, as a result, that performance is probably best forgotten. That said, with the third and fourth both winning out of the contest, it probably wasn’t as bad a run as first feared and now back on a more favourable surface, the son of Maxios should be able to run to a much higher standard.

MAYGOLD (NAP) (best price 5-2) looked a filly right on top of her game at Salisbury last time out and she’s strongly fancied to repeat the dose over a track that should play into her strengths. Slowly away at the Wiltshire venue 11 days ago, Ed Walker’s filly made up the lost ground to travel well in behind the strong pace set by Mawde, and then once asked to go about her work inside the final two furlongs, she quickened readily clear of her six rivals. Stopping the clock in a very fast time, she easily posted a career-high performance and with a similar set up most likely to be the order of the day again this afternoon with the likes of Hawaam and Soie D’Leau in the field, everything looks set fair for another positive display.

As expected, a hugely-competitive field of sprinters assembled for this sought-after prize and among those less exposed who may have sufficient improvement to take it to the next level is NITRO BOOST (best price 8-1).

Being the only three-year-old in the field, she obviously lacks the experience of some of these hard-knocking premier handicappers, but she proved her last time that she’s not frightened of getting her hands dirty when the chips are down and that should stand her in good stead her this evening. In what turned out to be a well-run contest at the Co Kildare track, Willie McCreery’s filly did really well to overcome her wide draw as she was stuck out on the wing in stall one, and in doing so she clocked a pretty useful time figure. Moreover, her sectionals from three out came out better in comparison to the older-horse listed winner Soffia on the same card and with the runner-up and eighth home both going on top boost the form subsequently, the race in question looks a totally believable one. Drawn close to where the likely pace will be generated courtesy of the presence of El Astronaute and Just Glamorous, the daughter of Dandy Man should get a nice tow through the early stages before being produced with her run late on and with some firms offering five places, she rates a cracking each-way bet at the morning odds.