Andy Holding's Friday Racing Tips

MARIO DE PAIL (best price 11-2) didn’t have the tactical speed to cope with Broken Halo over 2m3f at Exeter last time out, but with today’s step up in trip likely to see Sam Thomas’ grey in a much better light, he rates a reasonable proposition at the morning odds in a wide open-looking race. 

A useful 137-rated hurdler, the son of Blue Bresil isn’t too far away from that mark after just three starts over fences and with his two completed rounds both coming in strongly-run affairs, it can’t be too long before he goes beyond that rating if he continues on the same path. Trained in Glamorgan, it’s noticeable that most of his best efforts in his career have come on home soil – including over today’s course – and with a return to the Welsh venue set to suit, the seven-year-old should easily have the requirements to feature in a race of this nature. 

Henry Daly had a pretty rotten day at Cheltenham last weekend, losing one of his stable stalwarts Whatmore and seeing one of his bright stars Hillcrest fail to complete, but as they say, “the show must go on”, and the Shropshire handler might have a better outcome in this concluding bumper with ROCKINASTORM (best price 9-2) going to post with solid claims of following up his recent Bangor success. 

Only mildly promising at best on his debut back in October, the son of Mahler returned to the Welsh venue for another crack two months later and with a change in approach, a clear game plan set out by connections, he turned out to be a totally different model. Setting out to make the running, the five-year-old was headed going down the back straight, but he soon assumed command again and, from roughly half a mile from home, he gradually wound up a pace that nothing else could match. In winning by 18 lengths, he clocked a useful speed figure for a race of that nature and with today’s galloping track likely to play to his advantage, another bold display is anticipated.