Andy Holding's Saturday Racing Tips

It’s been well-documented that Hugo Palmer has had a pretty retched season so far with his number of winner’s way down on expectations, but there’s a decent chance that ARBALET (best price 14-1) will provide with the Newmarket handler with some welcome cheer now his team is beginning to show the signs of a revival (seven winners in last 14 days).

Progressive at three, the son of Dark Angel ran a stormer when fifth to Expert Eye in the Jersey Stakes at the Royal meeting and he duly followed up that run with another excellent effort in this race last season. Picking up the at the two-furlong pole, he ended up not quite seeing the race out as well as eventual winner, Burnt Sugar, but in beating the rest of the 26-strong field, he once again suggested that a strong run race over today’s stiff seven-furlongs is right up his street. In decent form this season considering his yard haven’t been able to buy a winner for months, the four-year-old will hopefully find this sort of opposition a welcome break from taking on the likes of Invincible Army, Matterhorn and Snazzy Jazzy and his middle draw should also give him a decent opportunity to track the speed where most of the pacier horses are congregated.

Of the rest, usual suspects Raising Sands and Kaeso are also worthy of respect given their appreciation of races of this nature and any further rain won’t dampen their chances unlike some.

NEW VOCATION (best price 9-2) clocked a smart speed figure for the grade when scoring with plenty in hand at Navan last time out and even though the handicapper has done his best to try and intervene, Jim Bolger’s gelding might have enough left up his sleeve to have the final say.

Despite being tried over 1m4f on more than one occasion, the daughter of Vocalised has always looked a better horse over shorter trips and that turned out to be the case at the Co Meath track two weeks ago. Setting a strong pace form the start, the four-year-old keep churning out the fractions all the way down the straight and at no stage did she ever look like relinquishing her lead. Moreover, the runner-up and third have both gone on to boost the form in no uncertain terms next time out and providing she can work her way towards the front of the pack at an early stage, she has every chance of grinding out another result.

As ADDEYBB (NAP) (best price 11-4) proved when scoring at Royal Ascot, he’s a pretty useful piece of kit when conditions are in his favour and with the Knavesmire set to endure quite a bit of rain in the lead-up to post time, there’s a good deal of confidence behind William Haggas’ gelding repeating the dose of his performance a month ago.

Looking a little lackadaisical at Chester on his seasonal return, connections were well within their rights to try and influence his performance levels a bit more, so cheekpieces were donned for the first time at the Berkshire track. Despite receiving a hefty bump at an early stage that could have easily derailed his chance, the five-year-old quickly got back on an even keel and once set alight for his challenge approaching the final furlong, he found a ready turn of foot to pull well clear of a useful field. Numbers-wise, it was also a fair effort by the son of Pivotal and even though the form book may say he has a little to find with Eclipse third Regal Reality, the ease underfoot might bring the pair closer together.

Arguably one of the best renewals on this mid-season 1m4f clash of the generations seen for many years and Enable looks poised to weave her own piece of history into the fabric of the great event. On grounds of pure value, however, the common man in the street isn’t getting much bang for his buck at a very skinny price, so it may pay to look elsewhere for bigger returns for investment and DEFOE (best price 8-1) makes much more appeal in the ‘without the favourite’ market.

Always just teetering on the edge of Group 1 class, Roger Varian’s gelding finally made the breakthrough he so richly deserved at that level when landing the Coronation Stakes at Epsom in May. With his confidence suitable boosted, he continued his progressive with another stylish performance, this time over today’s C&D in the Hardwicke Stakes, and the feature of those two efforts has been how strong he was in the latter part of each race. A four-time winner on soft ground and now proven over today’s demanding track, the grey son of Dalakhani was plenty in his favour to at least bustle up the main protagonists.

The numbers suggest SWINDLER (best price 2-1) ran to a very high standard when winning with some panache on his seasonal reappearance at Ascot 15 days ago and this upwardly-mobile three-year-old rates a strong choice to keep the ball rolling for himself and his in-form handler. Having his first outing for 275 and since being gelded, Ed Walker’s inmate was extremely well backed to get the job done at the Berkshire track and having travelled well throughout, he justified his position in the market with a race-winning thrust late on. Clearly at home being dropped out and brought with a powerful late charge, today’s stiff track should play right into his strengths and despite being up against several in-form performers back among his own age group, the son of Invincible Spirit is expected to pull through.

BAY WATCH (best price 3-1) produced a miraculous display on his first start for new connections at Bath in midweek and with the time figure he posted at the Somerset venue very suggesting there was no fluke about the performance, he’s strongly fancied to repeat the dose at a track that should equally play into his strengths.

No lower than 33-1 and well beaten in all his previous six starts for Tim Reed, the five-year-old gelding looked like keeping those stats intact as he trailed the field going past the halfway point three days ago, but a powerful late surge changed matters dramatically and he ended up totally overpowering his rivals with a tremendous turn of foot inside the final furlong. Clocking a smart speed for the grade, it’s also worth pointing out the son of Harbour Watch knocked out backend sectionals that stacked up very favourably compared to the likes of Miss Celestial (rated 89) and Heritage (88), so based on those findings, he really ought to be going close again against, on paper, what looks a similar field, quality-wise.