Andy Holding's Monday Racing Tips

YOUNG TIGER (best price 4-1) knows this C&D like the back of his hand and another positive display looks forthcoming from Tom Tate’s gelding from his potentially favourable inside draw.

An instant hit on the fibresand surface back in October, the son of Captain Gerrard added to that tally with an even better display a month later and although he’s also been undone a couple of times either side, a stands side draw was to blame on each visit. Based on all known evidence we’ve seen at the Midland venue in recent times, a track position towards the far side seems to have a distinct advantage over the straight course and even though he faces several interesting opponents, for whom all have progressive profiles, the seven-year-old is fancied to hold his own from stall one.

MOLE TRAP (best price 7-1) pulled off an unexpected 22-1 surprise at Hereford last time out, but as the speed figure revealed there was no fluke about the performance, she can be backed with a relative degree of confidence in her bid to follow up.

Off the track for 571-days previously, there obviously had to be a certain amount of doubt as to whether she would be fully tuned up to do herself justice, but in beating a competitive field in game fashion at the Midland venue, she cast aside any issues she might had had beforehand regarding her fitness. Only raised 5lb in the ratings for that shock victory, the daughter of Kayf Tara still gets to race off a bargain basement mark and providing she doesn’t fall into that dreaded ‘bounce’ theory second time up after a layoff, she can once again make her presence felt at this sort of level. Of the rest, Fizzlesticks rates the main threat based on his fifth-place finish in a race which has already thrown up a winner in the shape of Jully Les Buxy.

Angel Palanas has been running well enough of late, but as most of his best performances have taken place on the fibresand surface at Southwell (yet to race at the Dunstall Park track), he may well be vulnerable to Irish raider BILLYFAIRPLAY (NAP) (best price 7-4), who ran a good bit better than his finishing position suggested at Dundalk last time out.

In need of the run when not showing too much on his return to action after a break of 291-days previously, John Feane’s inmate was nibbled at in the market to do better in a competitive rated race a month after, and although he didn’t manage to trouble the judge as such, he did stay on quite takingly from the back of the field to finish a never-nearer eighth of the 14-strong field. Moreover, as the race in question easily produced the best overall speed figure and closing sectionals of the eight-race card, it puts a better gloss on his performance than at first glance, and now dropped into the sort of race where solid recent form is very much at a premium for most of his rivals, it would come as something as a surprise if he wasn’t going close to justifying his trip over the Irish Sea.