Andy Holding's Tuesday Racing Tips

Connections of NIGEL NOTT (best price 8-1) must have been delighted with the way their new acquisition performed for them on his first start for 159 days over today’s C&D a few weeks ago and with expected improvement to come following that initial effort, Michael Appleby’s gelding can solidify his tremendously consistent profile at the very least. 

A dual winner when with David Simcock, the son of Dutch Art was picked up for just 20k from the Horses In Training sale in July and on the evidence of what we saw here 14 days ago, that purchase doesn’t appear to be a shoddy bit of business in the grand scheme of things. Breaking well enough from stall 3, the four-year-old chestnut just lost his place slightly as the runners settled into an early formation and that meant he was a little further back down the pack than desired as the field turned for home. Staying on well up the inside, however, he managed to drag himself into a podium finish, three lengths off the impressive winner, Fresh, and with the numbers for the race stacking up nicely in the post-race analysis, it revealed he ran to a fair level on his first attempt at the track. Naturally, one would hope he’s a little sharper in all departments back to the scene of that display and from a similar draw, a decent break should result in a positive outcome.

In this game, it can be unwise to chastise a horse for one bad run and that approach will hopefully reap rewards as SHATHA (best price 11-1) is taken to put behind her a poor run at Newbury when last seen back in June. 

A 66-1 poke on debut here three days after the restart, Charlie Hills’ filly defied her position in the market in pretty spectacular fashion by running a very fast time figure and, as it turned out, beating a smart bunch of fillies’ in the process. The main bulk of her beaten rivals that day have gone on to boost the form since, so it was disappointing to say the least that she was one of the very few who didn’t manage to build on that initial display as expected next time out. Whether it was the rise in class, the different surface or whether she just bounced off a very big effort when asked to run again only 10 days later who knows, but either way, she clearly is much better than what we witnessed at the Berkshire venue. Back to the scene of her opening gambit and freshened up in the interim, hopefully the daughter of Muhaarar can return to something like her best and if so, morning odds of 12-1 could turn out to be on the big side.