Andy Holding's Thursday Racing Tips

IMPHAL (best price 2-1) has spent the entire winter banging his head against a brick wall on unsuitable soft ground to no avail, but he finally gets a chance to race on a more favourable surface here this afternoon and he’s fancied to grasp the opportunity with both hands.

A multiple winner on the Flat back in 2017 when the ground was genuinely firm, it was always going to be difficult placing him to good effect over hurdles and although he’s run respectably on all four starts so far to date, he’s left the impression everything has been a bit of an effort.

That said, his performance behind Threeunderthrufive and several other useful staying novices at Lingfield earlier this season strongly hinted he has the ability to win races when conditions turn in his favour and even a repeat of something close to that form would give him a chance in a race of this nature off what appears a lenient mark.

CIAO BELLA (best price 10-1) looked on really good terms with herself when scampering to victory at Fairyhouse last time out and with today’s yardage likely to bring about even further improvement from Liz Doyle’s mare, she makes plenty of appeal at the morning odds.

Still a maiden heading into her latest encounter at the Co Meath venue, the daughter of Martaline set off at a fair pace in a bid to stamp her authority of affairs and even though she got headed at a fairly early stage, she soon assumed command turning for home and in the latter part of the 2m4f journey. Keeping up a sound gallop all the way to the line, the five-year-old ended up clocking the best time on the card and with big gaps back to the third and beyond, the race has to be regarded as above-average. Given a mark of 113 despite evidence to the contrary, the grey mare once again has the cheekpieces on in order to keep her focused and having run well on her only previous visit to today’s course back in November, a big run is anticipated.