Andy Holding's Monday Racing Tips

The drop back in trip wouldn’t be absolutely ideal for HMS PRESIDENT (best price 9-4), but the combination of a stiff track on soft ground and the chance that he just may prove to be a bit too good for today’s opponents tips the scales in his favour and he’s fancied to finally get his due rewards for a series of fine placed efforts against some top-quality handicap company. 

Although his only victory in eight starts so far to date came on the all-weather, his best performances on the turf have come when there’s plenty of ease underfoot and with by far and away the best of those efforts on the figures achieved when he chased home the hugely-progressive Surrey Pride at Newbury two starts ago, it’s easy to see why he was heavily backed to vindicate that display at Beverley last time out. Punted from his morning quotes of 7-2 into 6-5 at post time, everything that could go wrong pretty much did go wrong for Alan King’s gelding right from the start and, as a result, his tendency to pull hard off a slow early pace, meant his finishing effort wasn’t as strong as his two main market rivals. That said, both the likes of Ilaraab and Throne Hall are thoroughly progressive colts in their own right, so it was by no means a total disgrace to get outpaced by a pair now rated a good deal higher (the former now 95 after winning again at Newbury. Hopefully, they will go a reasonable pace today courtesy of War Defender being in the field and even though he faces no pushover in the shape of Sea Trout Reach, the son of Excelebration can win the war if it becomes a question of stamina up the hill. 

WESTERN RUN (NAP) (best price 10-3) won apologising on his hurdling debut at Downpatrick last time out and with the speed figure going a long way to suggest his performance was as good as it appeared, Gavin Cromwell’s gelding rates a confidence vote to justify his position down the front end of the market. 

Placed five times in bumpers, his best effort when finishing a creditable third to the highly-promising Captain Kangaroo at Clonmel back in March, the son of Westerner certainly had the best form on paper going into his opening gig over timber 35 days ago, but that often means nothing if you don’t react in the right way, so the fact he did just about everything right in scoring by 10 lengths says a lot about him for the future. The fact that he did manage to win in a fast time without coming off the bridle at the Co Down venue strongly suggests there’s a fair engine underneath the chassis and with today’s trip also likely to be an added advantage, the five-year-old can take this before going on to better things.