Saturday Racing Tips from Andy Holding

DELGREY BOY (best price 10/1) hardly ran a bad race last season, winning three times and placed on numerous occasions, and with both his two performances this term strongly suggesting he’s following a similar path in terms of consistency, Tim Easterby’s gelding can reward each-way support.

Off the track for 184-days, the son of Delegator returned to action in a competitive handicap at Redcar and although he only beat a handful home, his run is best forgiven due to a terrible journey through the latter stages. Back around a turning mile at Haydock last time, the five-year-old came through strongly to finish a creditable third to the prominently ridden Excel Power and considering he was posted out wide for most of the journey, his effort deserves upgrading. Best off a strong pace where his late rattle is seen to good effect, his form figures at today’s venue of 413 are likely to be upheld if he gets the breaks at the right time.

CHEF DE PARTIE (best price 2/1) ran a race full of promise on his seasonal comeback at Newbury recently and with the potential of more to come in a maiden that isn’t overly strong by the track standards, the son of Siyouni has a golden opportunity to get off the nark at the third time of asking.

Promising on his only start last season, Harry And Roger Charlton’s colt began his campaign in equally eye-catching fashion, staying on nicely in a useful maiden at the Berkshire venue and when you take into account he did all his late work up the unfavourable nearside rail away from where all the main action took place, his performance comes even more under the spotlight. A nice big, rangy sort with scope for a significant amount of improvement as time progresses, it would be disappointing if he doesn’t go extremely close to shedding his maiden tag with that all-important run under his belt.

While not wanting to advocate betting in races over the bank’s fences on a regular basis, having witnessed the performance of SINGING BANJO (best price 6/1) up close and personal at this meeting two days ago, it would be churlish to suggest Philip Rothwell’s gelding isn’t anything other than a decent bet back over the same fences. 

A regular in these type of events over the years, the son of Generous really knows his way around the twists and turns and ups and downs of the unique inside Cross Country course at the Co Kildare track, and even though he was beaten in his attempt to win back-to-back La Touche’s here on Wednesday, his performance is finishing second to all-the-way winner Ballybroker Bridge was arguably almost better than his victory.

Towards the rear early, the 12-year-old made up a huge amount of ground in the middle part of the race to actually hit the front just over a mile from home and that swift move can be put down to some extraordinary agile jumping at some of the banks and ditches going down the side of the course.

Unfortunately, he couldn’t quite maintain the momentum all the way to the line, but he still kept on stoically to finish well clear of the rest and having score twice in as many days at this meeting last year, a quick turnaround is seen as a positive rather than a negative. 

Moktasaab is sure to attract all the attention with punters given how easily he scored for new connections at Newbury two weeks ago, but he does face a decent opponent in the shape of CARADOC (best price 2/1) and with Ed Walker’s gelding having the advantage of proven course form, he might just be capable on toppling the favourite. 

Lightly raced in recent times due to several setbacks, the son of Camelot is clearly useful when on song and his performance on the same card as today’s favourite suggests he hasn’t got too much to fear. Coming home strongly from the back of the field at the Berkshire track, the seven-year-old produced one of the faster last three-furlongs sectionals on the card – a good two seconds quicker than the one posted by Moktasaab – and considering the one-mile journey was a trip short of his best, there’s clearly plenty of positives to be taken from his run. An excellent runner-up to the useful Migration on his only outing over today’s C&D last season, Caradoc makes plenty of appeal at the morning odds. 

Having already suggested earlier in the week Luxembourg was the value bet in the Guineas to topple favourite Native Trail, for those who haven’t already got involved, you can now actually consider backing Aidan O’Brien’s potentially top-class miler each-way at 11-2 this morning – a scenario which seemed unlikely looking at the ante-post lists. Another possible angle to mull over is the without the favourite market and at even bigger odds, EYDON (best price 16/1) strikes me as being who has been mistakenly overlooked. 

Having been beaten in two maidens – one when a 4-9 poke – it seemed sending him straight into a listed race on his first start of the campaign was a little fanciful, but as it turned out, connections had their feelings justified as the son of Olden Times grabbed the headlines in rather taking fashion. In what turned out to be a generously run affair, Roger Varian’s colt impressed with the way he handled the track undulations and quickened up the hill and, in doing so, he also posted some pretty impressive numbers. Running the last three furlongs in 34.0, those splits compare favourable against Native Trail’s 34.5 when he won the Craven the previous day, so not only does he stay well, he also has a smart turn of foot for such a big horse. Nicely drawn down the middle in stall 10 and one of only four horses to have won over today’s Rowley Mile, Eydon is likely to prove his market underestimation all wrong.

Plenty of angles to be pursued in this tricky-looking 2m3f handicap hurdle, but there’s a fair chance a similar race won by Glan at Fairyhouse has some sort of bearing on the final outcome and that would bring in both LA PRIMA DONNA (best price 10/1) and HE’S A HARDY BLOKE (best price 11/1) into the equation.

The former represents a yard in unstoppable form here this week and considering her run the other day was only her fifth career start over hurdles, she did really well to cope with the big-field handicap scenario that was thrust upon her. Held up towards the rear, which went against how she’d been ridden previously, the daughter of Saint Des Saints stayed on extremely strongly in the final half a mile to get within half a length of the eventual winner and on the evidence of that display, you’d be hard pressed to say she wouldn’t be better served by further. Not only that, she also proved she handles good ground just as well and with Bryan Cooper likely to know her a little bit better this time, the combination can make their presence felt.

The latter also finished off his race with plenty of purpose at the Co Meath venue and must come into the argument on account of a step up in trip being more beneficial. Trained specifically for the Martin Pipe at the Cheltenham Festival, Noel Meade’s gelding ran well enough without threatening the main players, but it still prompted connections to reach for the first-time hood 14 days ago. On the evidence of what occurred in that competitive handicap he contested, the headgear seemed to have a positive effect and having also scored on his only other visit to today’s track, another bold bid looks on the cards.