Andy Holding's Friday Racing Tips

Mister Coffey is a lovely prospect in the making and he was quite impressive when making a winning debut over hurdles at Newbury three weeks ago, but whether he quite deserves to be a 1-3 chance up against the equally talented WEST CORK (best price 5-2) is open to debate and Dan Skelton’s gelding is taken to prove the disparity between them in the betting is too big.

Beaten by two smart novices on his first two starts over hurdles, the son of Midnight Legend was a warm order to make it third time lucky over today’s C&D 47 days ago and after travelling best throughout, he readily came clear of his rivals in the latter stages. Form-wise that race at the Cambridgeshire venue wouldn’t be anything to get too carried away with, but it was a slowly run affair and he shapes likes the type who will always be better in a more strongly run race, similar to his effort in a fast time at Warwick the run before. The fact that he’s already run over today’s course might provide him with some sort of advantage and at 11-4, in what effectively looks a match on paper, he rates the value call.

Other than below-par effort at Newcastle, YAMATO (NAP) (best price 4-1) has been in a fairly consistent form of late, and following another sound effort at Dundalk last time out, the son of Big Bad Bob is fancied to repeat his C&D success back in October.

Ridden just off the pace at the Co Lough venue, John McConnell’s gelding stayed on strongly all the way down the straight to hustle the more prominently-positioned Romantically all the way to the line and with the pair pulling nicely clear in a race that was fairly useful for the grade on the speed gun, he came out of the contest with a good deal of credit. Going back to his victory here before the turn of the year, his narrow margin of success is a little bit of a red herring as he was heavily eased in the closing stages once establishing a clear advantage and hailing from a yard that is in red-hot form at the moment, the seven-year-old cam strike another blow for the Irish raiders at this track.

PRETTY LITTLE LIAR (best price 7-2) performed with a decent amount of credit in defeat here last time out and a repeat of the same level of form should see her going very close to returning to winning ways.

Fifth here the time before over 1m4f, David Dunne’s mare was more comfortable running over here optimum distance 21 days ago and even though she couldn’t match the finishing kick of Magic Gal, it’s worth noting she pulled well clear of the rest, including one of tonight’s main opponents, Paistiul. On the evidence of that display, there’s no obvious reason why her old rival would turn around the form and with her form figures over tonight’s C&D now reading 3142, it’s hard to see her not adding to those consistent and impressive stats this evening.

TOMMY TAILOR (best price 5-2) might have failed in his bid to justify strong market support here last week, but time may tell he did precious little wrong in defeat and he's strongly fancied to make amends a week on from that commendable effort.

A big eye catcher on his first start for new connections over tonight's C&D, Johnny Levin's gelding was still a confident choice for many despite dropping back in trip a month later and although he probably ran very close to a career high, he had the misfortune to bump into the equally progressive Arcanears

The fact that the pair pulled well clear of a competitive field in a very fast time figure suggests both are some way ahead of the assessor and despite tonight's contest being another keenly contested affair, the son of Mizen Mast makes quite a bit of appeal off the same mark.