Thursday's Racing Tips from Andy Holding

JUSTIFIED (best price 4/1) couldn’t quite cope with a back-to-form College Oak at Stratford last time out, but he still did more than enough to warrant an interest in today’s slightly weaker race on paper.

Sent of favourite to follow up his previous convincing success at Huntingdon, Neil King’s gelding may have disappointed his supporters in failing in his bid, but as the numbers from the race at the Midland venue indicated, his performance in defeat wasn’t as bad as first feared. In what turned out to be a very strongly run contest for the grade, the son of Authorized didn’t quite see out the 2m6f journey as well as the front two, but even his seven-length losing margin couldn’t detract from the fact he’s still managed to run a career high on the speed figures. Back down in trip and racing on a more favourable galloping track, the five-year-old makes plenty of appeal from an each-way stance.

ZARINSK (best price 9/4) shaped as she required further than the six-furlong trip she faced at The Curragh last time out and with her experience of already racing at a very high level sure to stand her in good stead, Ger Lyon’s filly can get the better of several similarly promising types here this evening.

Impressing with her never-say-die attitude when making all the running to score on debut at the Co Kildare venue, the daughter of Kodiac was pitched straight into Group 2 company on her next start and although she came up a little short of mark on the day, she was in no discredited. Outpaced as the tempo increased three out, she just got caught out of her ground towards the nearside rail, but given the way she finished off her race inside the final furlong, it’s easy to come to the conclusion she will be a different proposition when handed with an even stiffer test. Time figure-wise. She has the beating of tonight’s field and having also finished ahead of two of her main opponents, including Never Ending Story, she easily rates the value bet at this morning’s odds.

SEA OF CHARM (NAP) (best price 5/2) has cut a little bit of a frustrating figure of late, but at the same time she’s still run some creditable races in defeat and a repeat of any of her last three performances should see Harry Dunlop’s filly regain winnings ways.

Just one win in 19 in no way reflects her effort and commitment to the cause over the past season or so and if you take away the winner of her most recent start at Doncaster, she would have beaten a useful field of fillies by a fair margin. Given the subsequent exploits of her conqueror on Town Moor (went on to finish second to the potentially smart Atlantis), the daughter of Charm Spirit has to be considered rather unlucky to bump into a filly who is now nudging up towards the 80 mark and with tonight’s contest extremely unlikely to contain a rival of that ilk, it would be disappointing if she wasn’t rewarded for her consistency.