Andy Holding's Thursday Racing Tips

LIBERTY BELLA (best price 5-2) impressed with the way she jumped and travelled before winning with any amount in hand at Warwick last time out and with today’s opposition pretty similar to what she faced 32 days ago, Brian Eckley’s mare can round off her season in the best possible fashion. 
A useful hurdler, the daughter of Librettist is on the way to making into a much better chaser and she probably would have made an earlier breakthrough over fences but for falling when going best at Ludlow two starts ago. Seemingly unaffected by that untimely tumble based on the way she attacked her obstacles at the Midland venue last time, she scored with much more in hand than official winning margin suggests and with today’s safe jumping ground unlikely to hinder her claims, the improving seven-year-old rates a confident choice.

CUT THE MUSTARD (NAP) (best price 11-4) has yet to live up to her name since venturing to these shores, but now taking a massive step down in class returning to the scene of a much better run than her finishing position suggests at the Festival, Paul Nicholls’ mare is strongly fancied to recapture her mojo. 
A top-class novice hurdler/chaser when trained by Willie Mullins in Ireland, the daughter of Al Namix hasn’t quite scaled those heights since joining new connections last year, but at the same time, she’s still run to a decent level in defeat and in the Grade 1 Mares’ Chase here a month ago, she travelled like one of the best horses in the field. Racing keenly from the start, she was still noted going as well as Colreevy and Elimay coming down the hill, but from that point onwards, her engine rather cut out and she gradually faded back into the pack. On the evidence of that display, however, she looks worth dropping back to the minimum trip and with some of her better form having previously taken place on good ground, the nine-year-old will never have a better chance of asserting her superiority.
 

CLONBURY BRIDGE (best price 3-1) was the only one of those held well off the pace at Navan last time out to make any decernible ground in the closing stages and with today’s step up in trip likely to play more into his strengths, the son of Presenting can finally get off the mark.
Promising in some decent maiden hurdles during the early part of the season, the five-year-old shaped quite well on his first start in handicap company at Fairyhouse two outings ago and that prompted an even better display last time. In what turned out to be a very strongly run race for the grade, he finished best of all to grab third close home and with that performance pointing heavily in the direction of an extra half a mile suiting him more next time, he’s fancied to press home that theory on today’s better ground.