Andy Holding's Wednesday Racing Tips

INVINCIBLE LARNE (best price 11-2) clocked a smart set of numbers, both overall and sectionals, in victory at Wolverhampton last week and with connections side-stepping an engagement at Southwell a few days later in order to keep the continuity of running at the Dunstall Park venue in place, it makes sense to keep him onside in this weaker contest on paper.

By and large a pretty consistent performer, especially on the all-weather surfaces, the five-year-old was a little bit under par at Chelmsford two starts ago and that prompted connections to switch him across to his current yard in a bid to refocus his energies. Once again slightly on heels coming out of the gates and behind in the early skirmishes at the Midland track, the son of Invincible Spirit worked himself into a challenging position turning for home and, under a typically industrious ride from Luke Morris, he stayed on strongly in the latter stages to score by a length. Although he didn’t have a huge amount in hand at the line, the fact he managed to beat a field that largely contained 90-rated horses is a massive feather in his cap and now dropping back into class 4 company over a track which clearly suits, another decent return looks on the cards.

PORFIN (NAP) (best price 7-4) turned in a career-high performance on the figures on his first start for new connections at Kempton last week and a repeat of something within a similar ballpark should see Phil McEntee’s gelding tough to beat.

Patchy, would be the only way to describe his overall levels of form for William Jarvis, so it was by no means a done deal he would run well on his first outing for 121 days at the Sunbury venue. However, after breaking alertly and racing on just behind the speed early, it was clear from a long way out that the son of Belardo was going to take a hand in the finish unless something drastic went wrong. Travelling up well inside the two, unfortunately the three-year-old had no response to the turn of foot displayed by the fast-finishing Starter For Ten, but he did keep on nicely all the way to the line and in recording his third runner-up spot in his career, his PB went up several notches. Although he’s yet to race at tonight’s track, it’s encouraging that his two best efforts of late have taken place on an all-weather surface and with the booking of Hollie Doyle seen as an obvious plus, hopefully he’ll have every chance of finally breaking his duck.