Andy Holding's Wednesday Racing Tips

JOEYREMY (best price 5-2) shaped with a huge amount of promise on his debut over today’s C&D last time out and with the expectation of quite a bit more to come now he knows more about the drill, Michael Dods’ gelding is fancied to take a hand in the finish.

Held up in midfield at the Yorkshire venue, the son of Gutaifan was just beginning to come with what looked a promising challenge at the two-furlong pole when he got checked in his run, resulted in him losing his pitch and valuable momentum. Once back on an even keel, he ran on strongly enough to suggest he may have had a say in the finish with a clear run and with those ahead of him that day all going on to boost the form in better races subsequently, there’s a strong possibility he will do his own bit for the race from 27 days ago.

MISTY AYR (best price 13-2) did about as well as could be expected in the Queen Mary last time out considering her draw and even though she faces a similar tough test against several strong contenders from home soil, Keith Dalgleish’s filly, she rates a decent bet to hold her own.

Despite having run with great encouragement in an above-average affair at Catterick on debut, being pitched into the white hot heat of a Group 2 against some of the fastest juvenile fillies’ around seemed a bold move and even though she failed to cut too much ice, her effort probably deserves a good deal of praise. Before the rains came during the second part of the Royal meeting, the place to be on the straight track was towards the nearside rail, so to go and bag stall one made life almost impossible for the daughter of Kodi Bear. However, despite that severe handicap, she managed to keep tabs on genuine high-class fillies all the way to the line and, as a result, her performance needed upgrading. Likely to be all the wiser for that chastening experience, Misty Ayr should go into today’s contest with nothing to fear and it would come as no surprise if she were to gain some all-important black type for her cv.

As time has progressed, it’s clear KARUOKA (best price 10-1) faced an impossible task against some potentially high-class three-year-old colts at Leicester last time out, but as today’s task looks a good deal easier on paper, there’s every chance she will prove slightly more competitive than she was 23 days ago.

Despite looking badly in need of the experience on debut at Haydock, Saeed Bin Suroor’s filly was still sent off one of the outsiders at the Midland venue and although she failed to live with the likes of Baaeed and Tamaamm in the later stages, she did more than enough to suggest she’d improved a good deal from that initial outing. Indeed, the time figure and subsequent performances of those in and around her that day strongly suggest she was up against a bunch of potential pattern-race performers and even if she only improves another smidgen here this evening, that might be good enough to see her there or thereabouts.

DIVINE CELT (best price 10-1) arrives here right on top of her game courtesy of a silky-smooth display at Sligo last time and there appears no obvious reason to go against Jarlath Fahey’s filly here tonight – especially when you consider her morning odds look all out of whack.

Runner-up on her first start for new connections at Navan back in May, she shaped as though she just needed the outing after a 258-day break and on her next start, she went on to fill out the same position in a similarly tricky big-field handicap at Leopardstown. Whether she quite concentrated fully on the job at hand that night can be argued, but she looked a totally different proposition with the blinkers off at the Cleaveragh Road venue, cruising up to the pace-setters before staying on powerfully in the latter stages. In winning by six lengths, the daughter of Lawman also ended up posting the fastest-furlong-per-furlong time on the eight-race card by some margin (ran the last circuit quicker than the 78-rated Lord Park) so even though the handicapper has done his best to gain his revenge, there’s a fair chance she will enough in the locker to offset her revised mark over a trip that should suit.