Andy Holding's Sunday Racing Tips

ROOSTER (best price 9-4) has been taking on a decent standard of two-year-old in both his starts to date and even though he does face several juveniles with a bit of form, he looks to have all bases covered in what looks a significant drop in class.

A creditable seventh on debut at Newmarket in a race which was notable for a smart speed figure, Hughie Morrison’s colt went to Wolverhampton in a bid to shed his maiden tag and despite improving on his performances levels first time out, he couldn’t quite get the better of Gussy Mac, who upheld the form of their clash at HQ. That said, he certainly made the well-backed favourite at the Dunstall Park venue pull out all the stops and, with the pair nicely clear and the speed pretty useful for a race of its kind, connections can still take great comfort from the defeat. By some way the pick on form and pure numbers based on those two efforts, he’s also bagged a decent draw close to the stands side fence here this afternoon, so with so much in his favour, a good break and decent early position should result in positive ending.

MAGIC SKY (best price 2-1) proved no match for the potentially smart Fooraat on her debut at Chelmsford 20 days ago, but given how strong the speed figure turned out to be, even a seven-length defeat still suggests she ran to a very high standard and that’s just one of the reason why she rates a decent bet here today.

A little tardy out of the gates and slow into her stride at the Essex venue, the daughter of Gleneagles found herself towards the rear early on, but in making steady ground throughout the latter stages of the contest, she managed to work herself into a reasonable position turning for home before keeping on well for minimal pressure all the way down the straight. Bearing in mind the winner is likely to be running for black type in the near future, Simon and Ed Crisford’s filly probably ran somewhere near to a rating of 90 on her opening salvo and even allowing for just minimal improvement, she should easily be good enough to take a race of this nature if handling today’s different surface.

As his profile suggested beforehand, COLONEL FRANK (best price 11-4) proved pretty ineffective over the minimum trip here two days ago, but being as he had no more than a float up the Rowley Mile, the decision by connections to let him hit the replay button has a decent chance of reaping maximum rewards.

Placed on his two previous starts over today’s C&D, including a creditable runner-up to Dark Defender on his penultimate outing, Mick Quinn’s gelding was given a chance to replicate his victory at Nottingham over five-furlong last season, but as that performance came on heavy ground, it was clearly only his stamina that allowed him to achieve such a feat. On a much quicker surface two days ago, the son of Dutch Art was all at sea and flat to the boards at halfway and although he made some belated late headway to finish a never-nearer forth, he was always trying to nail a blancmange to the ceiling. Well-suited by small fields based on his overall profile, the six-year-old has be found a decent opportunity to regather the winning thread.

STRONG JOHNSON (NAP) (best price 4-1) made a deep impression when scoring with plenty in hand over the C&D last time out and despite today’s contest being another steep rise in quality, Kieran Cotter’s gelding is strongly fancied to prove equal to the task.

A progressive sprinter last season, winning once and hitting the frame four times, the four-year-old often impressed with the way he travelled through his races and on the evidence of his opening gambit at the Co Kildare venue 15 days ago, his signature dish appears as reliable as ever. Despite being away from the main action and having to row his own boat up towards the stands side rail, the son of Le Cadre Noir always had his foot on the head of a competitive field at the last meeting and with the runner-up, Son And Sannie, going on to advertise the form in devastating fashion at Naas in midweek, even a rise in the ratings might not be enough to prevent him from following suit. Drawn smack bang in the middle of the bunch where all the pace seems to be congregated, he should get a lovely tow into the business end and hopefully he will have enough left in reserve to deliver a knockout blow.