Andy Holding's Tuesday Racing Tips

MISTER MURCHAN (NAP) (best price 5-2) has made a decent start to his chasing career based on his two attempts so far to date and having run extremely well in a quality race for the grade at Sandown last time out, Richard Rowe’s gelding is expected to take advantage of the significant drop in class.

A useful and consistent hurdler at a fairly low level, the former point winner was always expected to climb greater heights once switching his attentions to the larger obstacles and he immediately backed up that view when scoring in tidy fashion at Fontwell on his chasing debut (had Pemberley comfortably in his pocket). Upped in quality to contest a Class 3 0-135 novices’ handicap at the Esher venue 18 days ago, the seven-year-old impressed with the way he knuckled down to the task after getting badly outpaced as the tempo increased leaving the back straight and on the evidence of that display, his racing over 2m4f are likely to be a thing of the past. Moreover, the numbers were extremely strong for a race of that nature - adding yet more texture to the effort - and now amazingly on a lower mark than the one he raced off last time, it would be disappointing if he missed the boat – especially as today’s conditions are massively in his favour.

NINA THE TERRIER (best price 16-1) very much lived up to her name when making a successful debut at Doncaster a month ago and even though she faces many of today’s rivals who will dwarf her in stature – in particular Rainyday Woman – Alan King’s filly is still fancied to punch above her weight.

Sent off 7-1 in a 12-strong field on Town Moor, the pint-size daughter of Milan was held up towards the rear in the early stages but making relentless progress into the heart of the race from halfway, she stayed on best of all to score with a little bit up her sleeve. Of those towards the front end of the market, her time figure she produced 25 days ago is right up there with some of the best and with the potential of even more to come in another well-run environment, this likeable filly looks hugely underestimated.

Of the rest, the only one who has run on ground remotely close to what the field face here this afternoon is SPEECH BUBBLE (best price 15-2) and she’s is also worth a small each-way investment. Well-backed prior to making her debut at Ffos Las (40-1 in to 17-2), Noel Williams’ mare always looked like she was going to land the gamble and she ended up doing so without being subject to anything like a hard ride. Clearly, today’s opposition and likely stronger gallop makes for a totally different test, but she did exhibit the kind of cruising speed at the Welsh track to suggest she might have the ability to cope and this big, scopey mare can provide her new owner (Tim Syder) with an instant return on his investment.

ONE TO GO (best price 7-2) can’t afford to be as slow out of the gates as he was here last time, giving himself little chance of winning, but providing he does breaks terms, he has more than enough in his game to boss a race of this nature.

A bit of a Jekyll and Hyde character when it comes to the stalls in the sense he either hits the lids and leads or he can dwell and be slowly away the next day, Archie Watson’s gelding was very much in the latter camp over today’s C&D 31 days ago and it soon became apparent he was never likely to land a meaningful blow. That said, he still managed to post a decent speed figure in finishing a never-nearer sixth in what turned out to be a very good race for the grade and with the main players all going on to boost the form since, it’s easy to make a strong case for him against today’s opposition. Dropped 2lb by the handicapper despite running one of his fastest ever times, he now gets the golden opportunity to race in Class 6 company for the first time for ages and hailing from a yard who is running at a 20% strike rate at present, hopefully the son of Champs Elysees won’t take his eye off the ball.