Andy Holding's Monday Racing Tips

NAZINE (best price 13-2) ran with conspicuous promise on his hurdling debut over today’s C&D and with serious doubts lingering about many of his market rivals, a repeat of something similar should see the son of Raven’s Pass go close to getting off the mark.

Seemingly unfancied in what looked a fair juvenile hurdle at the Co Meath venue, Michael McDonagh’s gelding belied his position in the market with the way he travelled throughout and although he could quite go with the front pair on the run-in, he did impress with the way he saw his race out all the way to the line. Considering the winner, Palace Rock, is quite well-regarded by the Francis Casey team and the well-backed Ilmig was way behind in seventh, the form of his initial outing is probably above-average and with today’s better ground likely to suit judged by his action, it would be slightly disappointing if he couldn’t hit the frame at the very least.

CHANTING HILL (best price 5-2) ran out a comfortable winner over today’s C&D back in October and even though he hasn’t managed to add to those gains in two subsequent runs, there’s a decent chance he can bounce back now he gets the chance to race on a better surface.

Really strong in the latter stages of what turned out to be a well-run affair at the Borders venue on his first run for 222 days, Nick Alexander’s gelding looked in control of a similar contest at Newcastle a month later until tipping up while in the lead five fences from home. Returning to action 70 days later at Musselburgh, the son of Milan never looked comfortable around the tight, right-handed track and after a series of errors, he eventually could only finish fourth behind Petit Ganache. More to the point, the seven-year-old’s demise could be put down to the soft ground he encountered at the Scottish track, so hopefully we are likely to see a much more convincing display here this afternoon with conditions to suit.