Andy Holding's Monday Racing Tips

No great surprises here to find Nineohtwooneoh trading at a short price to follow up his recent Musselburgh romp, but there might be slightly sterner test awaiting him in the shape of BROKE AWAY (best price 9-2), who was good on the numbers for the grade at Wincanton last time out.

Heading into that contest the West Country venue 0-16, Alexander Dunn’s mare was strong in the market to finally shed her maiden tag and those who kept the faith were finally rewarded as she stayed on gamely rest the spoils late on. The feature of that performance 12 days ago was the time figure comparison which ended up sitting nicely up against the likes of the two smart novices from the Paul Nicholls stable, Fidelio Vallis and Ask For Gloy on the same card and a repeat of the same level of form should see the daughter of Stowaway hit the frame at the very least.

As it turned out, rearing and missing the break inadvertently did KNOWING GLANCE (best price 5-1) a massive favour at Lingfield last time out and providing today’s contest pans out in a similar fashion to the one at the Surrey venue, Richard Fahey’s gelding has every chance of following up.

A keen-going type, on occasions his propensity to get on with things has ended up counting against him, so the fact that he found himself at the back of the pack with plenty of cover enabled him to see off his race the way he did in that well-run affair 21 days ago. Still last turning for home, the son of Kodiac produced an electric chance of gear down the home straight, so much so, that he managed to run the last two furlongs in 21.8 – a time that many top-quality five-furlong performers would be proud of. Now connections know how he should be ridden in order to get the best out of the five-year-old, hopefully he will be dropped out and given a chance to finish off his race to best effect, and if so, he’ll have decent prospects of repeating the dose.

Moohareeba automatically receives the utmost respect in this maiden hailing from a yard that always has to be feared in a race of this nature, but at the same time, John Gosden’s inmate will have to be right on top of his game first time off the shelf to cope with the likes of DARK SCIMITAR (NAP) (best price 5-2) and Pot of Paint and it’s the former than makes the most appeal.

Promising after being slowly away on debut at Kempton, Marco Botti’s gelding was more prominent in the market when arriving at the Dunstall Park venue 17 days ago and with that initial experience on board, he was able to jump cleaner and race up with the pace from an early stage. Sitting on the shoulders of a strong gallop set by the well-backed Discovery island, the son of Verrazano kept chipping away at the Godolphin-trained favourite throughout the entire contest and although he eventually got the better of the battle with his main market rival, he ended up being a sitting duck for the more patiently-ridden Media Storm. Clocking a very smart time in defeat, it’s also worth pointing out the form has already received a huge boost with the eighth home, Haayem, winning here on Saturday (got beaten 20 lengths), and now much better housed tonight compared to last time (drawn 11 of 11), he’s strongly fancied to press home his superior track knowledge and experience.