Today's Racing Tips from Andy Holding

CHARLIE ARTHUR’s (best price 4/1) record on the turf of 0-5 compared to 6-36 on the all-weather suggest he’s maybe not one for maximum stakes on only his sixth outing on the grass, but at the same time, if he can manage to run anywhere near the level he did at Newbury last time out, there’s more than a fair chance there might be a little bit of a pendulum swing on those stats.

A five-time winner when in the care of Richard Hughes, he didn’t waste too much time in getting off the mark for new connections and although he’s failed to add to that tally in three subsequent starts, his performances in defeat have all been pretty useful on the numbers. Indeed, his latest exploits when fifth at the Berkshire venue read well in the context of tonight’s assignment and it would be a huge shock if he weren’t capable of going well in Class 6 company after competing against the likes of Walk Of Life, Moel Arthur and Time Interval, who are all miles better than tonight’s opponents.

MOSS TUCKER (NAP) (best price 6/4) has failed to feature in two of his three starts this season but, as each effort indicated he may be better served dropping back to the minimum trip, tonight’s examination should go a long way to backing up that view.

Other than one poor run at the Curragh last August, Kevin Condon’s gelding enjoyed a pretty fruitful season, and the second of his two victories over today’s C&D was easily his most impressive. The way he cruised along at the head of affairs before powering well clear in the closing stages made a mockery of the fact he’d been largely campaigned over seven furlongs and a mile previously and it’s also worth pointing out he had one of tonight’s main rivals, Iva Batt, trailing in his wake.

With that smooth success taking his record at the Limerick Road venue to 311, a return to his happy hunting ground is clearly seen as an obvious positive and with his two main rivals here this evening drawn just inside him in stalls three and four respectively, Billy Lee will have options to either boss the race from the front or take a lead of either of the pair if he so chooses.

LARIAT (best price 6/1) has been in pretty decent shape of late and arriving here following another positive display at Navan, Ado McGuinness’ gelding has a fine chance of going one place better than he did in this race last season.

Fourth on his return to action at Gowran, the son of Poet’s Voice improved sufficiently off that initial outing to go on to score at Bellewstown next time out and although he hasn’t managed to better that effort on his last two starts, at the same time he’s still managed to be a competitive in big-field handicaps. Moreover, his time figures in both victory and defeat have been pretty impressive for a horse of his grade and with all conditions coming alike for this durable six-year-old, he should once again run his usual solid race.