Andy Holding's Wednesday Racing Tips

EDIYVA (best price 11-4) has been knocking at the door in races of this nature for a while now, strongly suggesting her time is almost certain to come, and with the surface switch seen as a positive sway towards her chances here this afternoon, she receives a strong vote of confidence to get the job done at the fifth time of asking.

An agonising runner-up at Roscommon two starts ago, Michael Halford’s filly suffered a similar fate at Tipperary on her latest outing, but as the time figure of that race at the Limerick Junction fared the best on the eight-race card, it’s easy to give her the benefit of the doubt. Indeed, the fourth horse home 51 days ago, Fastnet Crown, went on to endorse the form over today’s course a week ago, and hailing from a stable whose runners in these type of events always have to be feared, it’s hard to envisage anything other than a positive show from the daughter of Kingman.

JOHN KIRKUP (best price 10-3) is holding his form together remarkably well and following yet another success on his favoured soft surface at Pontefract last time out, Michael Dods’ gelding can ride off into the winter with a win under his belt. 

On the go since June, the son of Assertive always takes a while to find his feet, or rather his feet to find a forgiving surface, and no sooner had that occurrence happened, he went bang, bang, bang with two seconds and a win. Returning to genuine heavy conditions after a period of relative dryness in the surfaces he faced, the five-year-old has once again thrived since the rains has arrived and if his latest victory is any guide to his current wellbeing, he looks primed to keep to show rolling just one more time. Indeed, when you take a look at the numbers he knocked out when scoring at the Yorkshire venue 16 days ago, they point towards a proper operator over the minimum trip and although he takes on no slouches here this afternoon, the likely good, solid pace should be right up his alley.

This all boils down to which part of the country has the stronger early-season novice hurdles and being one who firmly believes the Southern scene is superior, THE BEES KNEES (best price 2-1) is fancied to fly the flag for the Gloucestershire base of Fergal O’Brien. 

Third in a hot novices’ contest on his debut over hurdles at Newton Abbot back in September, Fergal O’Brien’s gelding went back to the West Country venue in a bid to better that performance and despite being up against two above-average opponents for the time of year, he proved good enough to get off the mark. Setting his stall out from the start, the son of Oscar went a decent clip before winding the pace up coming out of the back straight and in maintaining a solid gallop all the way to the line, he kept on gamely to fend off the persistent challenge of Celestial Force. An honest type with an attitude to match his ability, another bold, front-running display looks on the cards and on ground that will suit, he should prove difficult to peg back around this sharp track.

SHAWAF (best price 9-2) was extremely strong in all departments when scoring readily over today’s course last time out and with a step up to seven-furlongs not expected to halt his progress, the London Bus theory could easily apply to this son of Mukhadram.

0-15 coming into his latest assignment 19 days ago, Damian English’s gelding wouldn’t have been everyone’s shortlist as a solid investment, but given the way he strode clear of a useful field in the latter stages having cut out a strong pace from the start, made the 4-1 on offer beforehand look decidedly generous. Unsurprisingly, given the way he won, his overall time figure was extremely good for the type of race and having run well on virtually all his starts here at the Co Meath venue, including two over a mile, a bold front-running display looks the order of the day again for this exuberant grey.