Andy Holding's Sunday Racing Tips

YULONG GOLD FAIRY (best price 5-1) ran out a comfortable winner of this race last year and a chance is taken that she can repeat the dose having her first run from her new base. Formerly with Dermot Weld, the four-year-old filly was second in the stable pecking order when she arrived at the Limerick Junction track twelve months ago, but having travelled much sweeter than hot favourite Imaging throughout, she stayed on best of all to beat an all-star cast with a little more in hand than the official winning margin suggested. Yet to find her form so far this season, largely due to unsuitable fast ground, she has been given plenty of time to ease into her new surroundings and with her form figures of soft/heavy ground reading 112113, the daughter of Mount Nelson has her ideal conditions this afternoon to keep those impressive stats intact.

There’s no denying Petit Mouchoir is the class act of this field, but whether he’s good enough nowadays to cope with the race-fit DAVIDS CHARM (best price 9-4) off the back of a 156-day break in open to question and the latter gains the vote.

A hugely consistent sort under both codes, John Walsh’s gelding finally got his due reward for a series of near misses in some big premier handicaps when scoring at the Listowel Festival last time out and with the time figure indicating it was a very strong race for the grade, he thoroughly deserves a crack at something more substantial. The way he travelled before turning away the useful field that day, including hot favourite Ballyoisin, points towards a horse at the peak of his powers at present and with his two main market rivals likely to set a decent pace up front, the eight-year-old is fancied to pick them off in the latter stages.

If Enable produces her best form there’s pretty much nothing standing in her way to deny her a third Arc, so with that in mind, it’s safer to look towards the ‘without the favourite’ betting for some value and the one who makes the most appeal in that exotic market is MAGICAL (best price 4-1).

A massively reliable performer at the very highest level, the only bad run by Aidan O’Brien’s filly came in this very race last year when, as a result of a bad poor, she could never get involved in the contest from the rear of the field. Since then, however, the daughter of Galileo has continued to thrive and although she’s seen the backside of Enable twice in Coral Eclipse and Yorkshire Oaks, she’s still run up to very high level in finishing ahead of some top-class sorts in her own right. Back to her very best when capturing the Irish Champion Stake at Leopardstown last time out, the four-year-old couldn’t arrive here in any better shape and having secured a much more favourable draw this time around, she should be good enough to be bang on the scene using Enable as a guide.

On the same lines as the Arc, this five-furlong dash looks at the mercy of Battaash on all known form, so once again, the value lies elsewhere in the ‘without the favourite’ markets. Of the rest, GLASS SLIPPERS (best price 9-1) and SHADES OF BLUE (best price 14-1) bring the most recent C&D form to the party courtesy of their first and second places in the Group 3 Prix Du Petit Couvert Stakes last month and a repeat should be good enough to see at least one of them pushing for a podium finish.

The former did really well to win on the day considering how far behind she was at halfway and that useful turn of foot she has is clearly well suited by this long pull to the line from three out. The latter showed more all-round speed than her old rival and was only just collared in the dying strides, but that effort at least went some way to rubber-stamp her ability to perform at the highest level and having yet to finish out of the frame in all eight starts, Clive Cox’s inmate is likely to give her true running again.