Andy Holding's Monday Racing Tips

BLACK POPPY (best price 13-8) hasn’t quite hit the heights over hurdles hoped for by connections, but as today’s contest probably represents her easiest task so far to date, Kerry Lee’s mare can take the opportunity presented with open arms.

An impressive winner of her only start last season in a bumper at Warwick, the daughter of Kayf Tara made a rather inauspicious start to her new vocation by falling at the second last at Bangor. Sent off favourite to make amends next time at Exeter, she couldn’t quite match the front two late on, but when you consider one of them was the very smart Anyharminasking (won twice since), her defeat is a little easier to swallow. Next it was Balco Coastal and a few other useful novices that stood in her way at Huntingdon and for good measure she then had the misfortune to bump into the 134-rated Broomfield Burg at Kempton on Boxing Day, who’s likely to prove he’s much better than that sort of mark in the future. It was good to see, at the very least, the six-year-old finish off her race quite nicely at the Sunbury venue 36 days ago and with her yard slowly beginning to show signs of recovering from the slump they were in around the time she was doing most of her racing, hopefully she can crack on and find the second half of her campaign a good deal more productive.

ACHNAMARA (NAP) (best price 13-8) had to be considered a slightly unlucky loser at Lingfield last time and with today’s jockey booking inciting a good degree more confidence than 17 days ago, Charlie And Mark Johnston’s filly can finally be rewarded for her consistency.

Not for the first time Andrew Breslin has tried to pursue a ridiculously tight passage up the inside fence at the Surrey venue (did the same thing on Enfranchise on her penultimate start) and as it turned out, his hasty decision proved a costly error of judgement. Had she been brought wider for a much clearer run, there’s little doubt she would have prevailed given the way she finished off her race and it was a result that must have annoyed the life out of connections who own a filly who had already hit the crossbar three times previously. Just run out of the argument close home over tonight’s C&D the time before when making the running, she seemed more at home just sitting off the pace two weeks later, but either way, in a small field where tactics are going to prove as important as pure ability, the chance to have a flexible approach will be useful for Joe Fanning to have up his sleeve.