Andy Holding's Monday Racing Tips

The feature of the race won by Smokey Bear at Newbury 10 days ago was the very strong speed figure produced by the winner and having run with credit to finish hot on the heels of Roger Charlton’s inmate in third and fourth respectively, GLEEDS GIRL (best price 6-1) and LIVE IN THE MOMENT (best price 12-1) should prove to be big players in a race of this nature off what appear fair opening handicap marks.

The former just came out of the battle for the minor money and in doing so, backed her previous eye-catching effort when staying on strong late on to grab third at Brighton (Music Therapist won since). Once again outpaced at the Berkshire track, Mick Channon’s filly once again came home to good effect in the backend to the contest and with today’s steady climb from three out likely to play into her strengths, it would be disappointing if she wasn’t bang on the scene at the business end.

The latter hadn’t shown a massive amount in two previous start so whether that useful effort last time turns out to be a flash in the pan remains to be seen. Either way, she has to be respected based purely on her numbers that day and she, too, doesn’t appear too badly treated in context of today’s assignment.

SURREY PRIDE (best price 9-2) very much caught the eye on his debut in an above-average heat at Sandown and providing he shows just normal improvement with that all-important run under his belt, he should easily be capable of making his presence felt if handling the slower conditions.

Unable to hold his position early at the Esher venue, Joseph Tuite’s colt found himself with only two behind him as the field turned for home, but he picked up really nicely in the closing stages without being unduly punished and it was good to see him hit the line nice and hard, also. Hailing from a stable that wouldn’t be renown for first-time-out juvenile winners, that effort has to go down as a highly encouraging starting point and with the Lambourn handler having plundered a couple of decent winners of late, including a Group 3 success at Gowran last week, hope is high that the son of Lope De Vega can keep up the good work.

A decent field assembled for this Grade 3 chase and DJINGLE (NAP) (best price 2-1) is fancied to come through this test with flying colours. Held in high regard when in the care of Paul Nicholls back in the UK, things just didn’t pan out for the son of Voix Du Nord but on the evidence of what we saw at Listowel last time out, several disappointing display of the past may turn out to be a distant memory. Having his third start over fences at the harvest festival, John Queally’s gelding travelled and jumped well throughout and once establishing a clear advantage early on, he never looked like relinquishing the lead. The feature of that overall performance was that he appeared to settle better than on his previous two starts and that is very much the key to how he gets on in better company further down the line. Although he faces several useful types who have already shown a fair degree of ability under both codes so far to date, the six-year-old has arguably the most natural talented and with the testing conditions unlikely to trouble him more than most, he will take some pegging back around a track that very much suits front runners.