Andy Holding's Thursday Racing Tips

SILVER SNIPER (best price 7-2) figured prominently in a fair novice event at Newcastle on the first day post lockdown and with just normal amount of improvement, he should go very close to breaking his maiden tag at the second time of asking.

Sent off 80-1 for his debut at the Gosforth Park venue, the son of Zebedee was able to comfortably go the early pace, which wasn’t breakneck by any stretch of the imagination, but as the tempo really increased from the three-furlong pole, he began to feel the pinch. That said, Tim Easterby’s gelding impressed with the way he stuck to his task to finish an honourable fourth and considering some of those ahead of him had behind had some tidy form going into the contest, he deserved even more praise heading his way. Indeed, looking at the final three furlong splits of that contest 10 days, it reveals the main players were really trapping along towards the backend and with today’s drop down to the minimum trip not seen as an inconvenience in any way, the promising three-year-old could provide his stable with a much-needed winner.

If the handicapper were to assess AWEEMAWEH (NAP) (best price 4-1) retrospectively then there’s little doubt Mick Channon colt would be rated a good deal higher than today’s mark of 76 given the exploits of those in behind him at Wolverhampton last time out and for that result, he makes plenty of appeal in a race that looks well within his range.

Promising on his first two starts as a juvenile, the son of Bungle Inthejungle went to the Dunstall Park venue with no more than an outside of claiming the spoils, but as it turned out, he ended up taking the scalps of several above-average types in pretty stylish fashion. A little outpaced as the main player rattled along in the early stages, the three-year-old chestnut began to make some inroads into the front runners as the field swung for home and then staying on strongest of all late on, he ran over the top of tiring rivals to end up winning with a bit up his sleeve. Looking at those beaten 89 days ago, the runner-up, Meraas bolted up at Kempton on his next start and is now rated 91 while the third home, Never Dark also won at the same venue recently and now sits on a perch of 82. Based on the evidence of what we witnessed in that all-weather strong race, Aweemaweh should turn out to be hugely competitive off a considerably lower mark and providing there’s a reasonable amount of pace on and Charlie Bishop bides his time, the rest should take care of itself.

Time may tell INVOLVED (best price 6-5) bumped into a very well treated filly in the shape of Inclyne at Newmarket last week and with connections seemingly keen on taking advantage of his current handicap mark and superior fitness, the five-year-old gelding is fancied to keep up the good work for in-form Newmarket handler George Boughey.

Having his first start at HQ for 250 days since leaving Daniel Kubler, the son of Havana Gold was noted moving well in behind a soundly-run affair and although he ended up finding plenty once off the bridle in the closing stages, he couldn’t quite contain the irresistible run of the Andrew Balding-trained winner late on. Likely to have improved from that initial out, the fact that he still gets the chance to run in a 0-78 is seen as a massive bonus and it would come as no surprise to see him leave this grade well behind in the coming weeks and months.