Andy Holding's Friday Racing Tips

EARTH LORD (best price 9-2) readily disposed of previous impressive winner Grosvenor Court at Wincanton last time out and with the son of Mahler coming out of that romp still a 127-rated horse accordingly to the official assessor, he’s strongly fancied to take advantage of that mark on his first start in handicap company. 

Placed in two useful maidens towards the backend of last season, Philip Hobbs’ gelding was heavily supported to make a winning start to this campaign and even though he faced stern competition in the shape of a proven C&D winner, he duly justified his position in the market. Always travelling well throughout, the five-year-old chestnut found a ready turn of foot to pull well clear of his toiling rivals from the second last and with the overall time figure and backend sectionals easily the best recorded on the hurdle course that day, his performance carries a good deal of substance. A chasing type by stature, no doubt his better days lie further down the line, but for now, he can continue to make an impact at this sort of level and with today’s stiff, galloping track set to suit, he makes plenty of appeal at the morning odds. 

RED ROOKIE (best price 2-1) has two of today’s main rivals, Amarillo Sky and Brave Seasca well behind him when an excellent second on his chase debut at Chepstow and with the distinct likelihood on even more improvement to come following that initial experience under his belt, Emma Lavelle’s gelding rates a confident choice to confirm the form. 

A smart novice hurdler, his future, however, was always likely to rest on how good he took to fences and on the evidence of his first effort at the Welsh track, a solid platform has been built for which to work from. In what turned out to be an extremely strongly-run novices’ handicap 44 days ago, the son of Black Sam Bellamy travelled as well as anything throughout the two-mile journey, but being as it was his first outing for 228-days, he just couldn’t quite see it out as well as the race-fit winner. As expected with a such a healthy speed figure, the race couldn’t have worked out much better and even though several in the line-up have had the benefit of further experience over the larger obstacles, the six-year-old is still fancied to come out on top. 

Some big reputations on the line here, none more so than the one surrounding Jonbon, but up to now, Nicky Henderson’s gelding has very much been style over substance so whether he deserves to be quite so short in the betting is open to debate. COLONEL MUSTARD (best price 8-1), on the other hand, has already been placed in Grade 1 company and because of that fact, he appears to be seriously underestimated in the market. 

Still, a maiden over hurdles heading into that quality affair at the Punchestown Festival, Lorna Fowler’s gelding was given every chance of obtaining the best possible finish by being ridden away from the early pace and those tactics ended up reaping maximum rewards as he stayed on best of all to finish a creditable second to the smart mare Echoes In Rain. Finally, off the mark over hurdles with a regulation victory in a maiden at Galway, the six-year-old has been biding his time waiting for the right opportunity to come along since, but with nothing floating the boat of connections at home, he’s just as well coming over the Irish Sea to see how he figures against some of the best the UK contingent can offer at this stage of the season. A proper chasing type for the future, his ability and willing attitude should see him outrun his odds. 

MERCIAN HYMM (NAP) (best price 5-2) took a huge leap forward from all his other previous achievements at Wolverhampton last time out and with that new-found improvement coming courtesy of being upped significantly in trip, Sir Mark Todd’s gelding can continue his progression now connections have worked his true requirements. 

A promising third on debut at Salisbury back in April, his four subsequent efforts didn’t really amount to much, which must have been disappointing for all concerned, but the experiment to dispense with the headgear and step him up to 1m4f ended up being an inspired decision as he looked a totally different model at the Dunstall Park track 22 days ago. In what turned out to be a pretty well-run race for the grade, the son of Siyouni stayed on powerfully in the closing stages to score with plenty in hand and with his numbers, both overall and closing sectionals comparative to many other of the better quality races on the same card, a mandatory rise of just 7lb in the ratings shouldn’t be enough to prevent this lightly-raced three-year-old from repeating the dose.