Andy Holding's Monday Racing Tips

ISOLATE (NAP) (best price 2-1) did pretty much all asked of him when scoring readily on his latest encounter over today’s C&D and with similar quick ground conditions very much in his favour for his return visit, Alan King’s gelding can keep up the fine run of his stable in recent weeks. 

A useful hurdler whose form rather tapered off towards the backend of last season, the decision was made to send him over fences in a bid to get his career back on track and after two promising outings to get his eye in, he delivered the goods at the third time of asking. Involved in the early skirmishes with Naizagai, the son of Maxios picked up the running with a good jump at the fifth and from that point onwards, he gradually saw off his rivals one by one. Going on to post a very favourable time figure, it’s worth noting his final circuit time was 1.5 seconds quicker than the one achieved by the 134-rated and more experienced bunch of chasers led home by Mercian Prince over the same C&D an hour later (Fairway Freddy beaten 15 lengths in third), so based on those findings, it's easy to come to the conclusion that this improving five-year-old has more than a fair chance of defying just a 5lb rise in the ratings. 

ARQOOB (best price 11-2) didn’t run too badly considering the ground was probably not to his liking at Leicester last time out and now returning to surface on which he’s shaped quite well in the past (on his debut), William Jarvis’ gelding has a more than reasonable chance of bouncing back to somewhere close to his best. 

Largely consistent throughout the turf season and with two wins next to his name, his best performance came when accounting for a decent field in a Class 4 event at Leicester back in August and although he failed in his bid to follow up that success on his return visit two months later, the combination of testing conditions and a better class race just found him out. That said, he still ran well enough in the context of today’s contest and with the numbers he’s posted when on-song well up to the standard required, a solid break from the inside draw can see him hit the frame at the very least. 

THAHAB IFRAJ (best price 4-1) has only underperformed once in his last eight starts and that overall consistency looks set to continue now he’s had that all-important first run of the season safely tucked away under his belt from his effort at Taunton recently. 

Off the track for 53 days following an uncharacteristically modest run at Worcester in August, Alexander Dunn’s gelding was up against a field consisting of several in-form performers, including the hat trick seeking See The Sea, and although he couldn’t quite go with Donald McCain’s trail-blazing mare in the latter stages, he did more than enough to suggest further success awaits in due course. Looking at his overall profile, it’s clear a sharp, right-handed track on good ground suits best and with one of his five career wins coming over today’s C&D this time last season, hope is high the son of Frozen Power can repeat the dose under ideal conditions.