Andy Holding's Thursday Racing Tips

FLASHCARD (best price 4-1) was seemingly back to his best at Ascot last time out and with his confidence sky-high and retuning to the scene of his best two previous performances, Andrew Balding’s gelding can take the rise in class in his stride. 2-2 and impressive on both visits at the Wiltshire track as a two-year-old, the son of Fast Company has rather lost his way in the interim, but back with some ease underfoot and over a stiff galloping track last time, he showed everyone just what a good horse he is when on-song. The way he travelled and quickened at the Berkshire venue pointed to a horse in the rudest of health and with yesterday’s rain not set to inconvenience him in any way, the three-year-old chestnut can follow in the footsteps of Passing Glance, Side Glance and Tullius, who were all winners of this prestigious race for his Kingsclere handler in the past.

Alhaazm has looked as though two things are rather getting in his way, so until he has the unkindest cut of all, he can be readily passed over in favour of THE CORPORAL (best price 3-1).

Looking disappointing since leaving Aidan O’Brien, not for the first time, one of Chris Wall’s inmates improved dramatically for a run at the seaside venue and if he can continue along the same path on his return visit, then he might be capable of repeating the dose from last time. Niggled along and looking one paced two out, the son of Dansili finally decided to engage top gear when it mattered most and in the end, he ended up winning quite snugly. Time-wise, the race comes out well on the figures, and with the runner-up, Rock The Cradle, going on to boost the form next time with a cosy win at Sandown, the three-year-old is capable of following suit under similar conditions to those he encountered 29 days ago.

MERRICOURT (NAP) (best price 5-1) has to overcome a 134-day layoff, but providing he’s somewhere close to peak fitness there’s every chance he can go close in a race of this nature. Promising in three starts last season, Ger Lyon’s three-year-old blew any chance he may have had of breaking his duck with an extremely slow start in a hot handicap here back in April, but despite giving some decent types a healthy head start, he made the sort of inroads towards the backend of the contest to suggest he would have been a massive player given a level playing field. Clearly better than the bare result indicates, the son of Mizzen Mast has ground conditions and a decent draw in his favour on his return to the Dublin venue and he rates a fair each-way bet at the morning prices.

Canadian Steel arrives here in terrific shape following another easy victory at Downpatrick on Sunday, but while his claims are blatantly obvious, WALKING ON GLASS (best price 7-1) could turn out to be the fly in the ointment towards the foot of the weights. Only showing modest ability over hurdles in three starts, the four-year-old grey has been a totally different proposition of late on the Flat and his latest effort at Galway signifies the kind of improvement he’s made in such a short space of time. Fourth in a hot handicap over 1m4f at Ballybrit two weeks ago, that effort was probably pound-for-pound his best ever display based on pure figures, but if you take into account his victory over the rapidly-improving Linger (now rated 120 over hurdles) at Navan earlier in the season, it all adds up to a horse on top of his game at present. Obviously, it’s not in tablets of stone that the son of Big Bad Bob is going to translate that level of ability back to the winter game, but if he does, he surely will be a dangerous floater off a mark of just 93 on his handicap debut.