Andy Holding's Friday Racing Tips

Albigna is likely to be all the rage now taking a significant drop down in the class, but there is one going the other direction that might give her the most to think about in the shape of THUNDERING NIGHTS (best price 13-2).

A steady improver last season, she rounded off her campaign with a taking victory at Galway on heavy ground and that effort set her up nicely for future battles this term. Racing over today’s C&D on his first outing for 264 days, Joseph O’Brien’s filly looked like she was going to oblige only to just get pipped in the final strides by the well-fancied Sonnyboyliston, but with the time figure of the race good and those in behind at the Co Kildare venue going on to boost the form since, it was no surprise to see her regain winning ways herself at Leopardstown next time. Although it may have seemed a mandatory success on paper, the post-race numbers once again suggested the daughter of Night Of Thunder had run to a decent standard and she thoroughly deserves a crack at some black type based on her progressive profile. Moreover, she will be at home on today’s testing conditions more than most and at the morning prices, she’s worth a decent pop from an each-way perspective.

As ever, a wide-open looking Irish Cambridgeshire but both NJORD (best price 5-1) and BREAKING STORY (best price 14-1) bring solid recent form to the party and they are worth playing against the field.

Connections of the former must have been cursing their luck having witnessed their gelding narrowly failing to land the two big handicaps of the week at Galway and even though the handicapper has added insult to injury by raising Jessica Harrington’s inmate in the interim, he still is fancied to go very close again despite top weight. Handed the coffin box in the BMW Mile on the second day of the festival at Ballybrit, the son of Roderic O’Connor looked like he was going to pull off the impossible until the brilliantly-ridden Saltonsall came and nutted him right on the line and then five days later, a slow start resulting in a poor track position ultimately cost him dear in the Ahoonora Handicap over a furlong short of his best. A real mud lark who destroyed a large field of handicappers over today’s C&D last season, the four-year-old has his ideal conditions again to land the big pot his recent endeavours deserve.

The latter wouldn’t be one to jump off the page for most, but he has run a good deal better than his form figures suggest and he’s worth a crack at his double-figure odds to confirm the impression he’s created on his last three starts. Not quite good enough for the likes of smart 1m2f performers Ancient Spirit and Buckhurst in a well-run listed event at Navan on his seasonal reappearance, Sheila Levery’s gelding then suffered heavily at the hands of the draw gods on his last two starts at Galway and Gowran respectively. Dropped out the back from a wide draw in the big mile handicap at the former venue, the son of Dandy Man was noted doing some sterling late work despite receiving a troublesome path inside the final two furlongs and similar comments apply to his run at the latter track when he got stall 16 of 16 in the ballot. On each occasion, he’s left the impression he would have figured a good deal more prominently had he been allowed to run on a level playing field and now returning to the scene of one of his best victories on debut back in 2018, the four-year-old chestnut looks set to run a massive race despite slight reservations regarding today’s ground.

TERESA MENDOSA (best price 13-8) created a favourable impression both visually and on the clock when scoring like a classy filly on her debut over today’s C&D and he’s strongly fancied to provide her canny handler with yet another big two-year-old prize.

Relatively easy to back at the Co Kildare venue back in July, the daughter of Territories was always moving much sweeter than her position in the market suggested and when asked to go and win her race by Shane Foley, she found a smart turn of foot to come right away from her field. Clocking a smart overall time figure, she also posted a similar last three-furlong sectional to the top-class sprinter Make A Challenge which very much indicated she is a filly of some quality and with the runner-up, Monaasib going to solidify that viewpoint on his next two starts, she now makes her eagerly-awaited return to the scene of that tremendous display with a good deal of expectation around her broad shoulders. Since that victory, Ken Condon has been proving that he has an embarrassment of riches in the juvenile department with the likes of Miss Amulet and Laws Of Indices flying the flag for the Rathbride handler scoring at Group level and providing this filly can handle slightly softer underfoot conditions to what she faced on debut, there’s a decent chance she will add her name to the pattern-race list. 

Away from the most obvious winner, SWEET GARDENIA (best price 13-2) is also of some interest following her 50-1 shock victory at Naas last weekend and she rates one to play in the ‘without the favourite’ markets. 

Not knocked about when too green to do herself justice on her first two starts, John Murphy’s filly pieced it altogether on her third start and the manner she stormed to victory and the time figure she produced strongly suggested there was no fluke whatsoever about her success. Always travelling well, she quickened up nicely in the rain-softened ground to score with plenty on hand and it’s worth pointing out that she managed to run the latter part of the race in a quicker time than Chief Little Hawk who is second favourite around the 2-1 mark here this afternoon. Based on those findings, there’s simply no way the daughter of Showcasing should be chalked up four times the price of the Aidan O’Brien colt and having already run a nice race on unsuitable ground and trip here the time before, today’s conditions over six-furlongs should see her in a much better light on her return visit.

TRESORIER (best price 11-2) certainly has way more ability that his one win in 26 runs implies and he’s afforded another chance to finally secure the decent-sized pot many of his previous endeavours deserve. 
John Feane’s gelding took a while to find his stride last season, but when the autumn leaves began to fall, that is when he produced his two best performances. Firstly, over today’s C&D back in October, he caught the eye finishing off his race from an uncompromising position to finish a never-nearer third in a 28-strong field and then secondly, he once again went into the notebook with the way he came home in an even tougher handicap at Leopardstown. On each occasion, the feature of his performances were the way he travelled through his races and following an encouraging effort at Dundalk last time out when he again came home strongly after being some behind at halfway, he appears to be coming nicely to the boil just at the right time.