Today's Racing Tips from Andy Holding

TARTAN CHIEF (best price 4/1) hasn’t quite hit the same heights to match his two victories this time last season but, there have been more encouraging signs of late, and following a decent effort in a better race than the one he faces today, Paul & Oliver Cole’s colt can go close to resume winning ways. 

Similar to last season, the son of Dark Angel didn’t click into gear until the month of August appeared and following a solid effort at Windsor two starts ago, he produced another decent display in defeat at Newbury last time out. Ridden from the front in a totally different manner to any of his previous appearances, the three-year-old grey was still rocking and rolling at the two-furlong pole at the Berkshire track but, in bidding to maintain a strong gallop that he’d set from the outset, he finally succumbed to his own fractions to a pair handled with a degree more patience. That said, his performance in finishing a respectable third still came out well on the speed figures (easily the best of the card) and with today’s opposition on paper a little less taxing in terms of pure quality, he looks to have every chance of being hugely competitive. 

ANGE ENDORMI (NAP) (best price 11/8) has taken really well to today’s course based on his last two outings, not to mention his new stable, and the combination of the two factors is good enough to tip the balance heavily in favour of Barbara Butterworth’s gelding maintaining the winning theme. 

Having his first outing for 63 days since leaving the outfit of Ben Pauling, the six-year-old almost made the perfect start for new connections only to just get run out of the argument by the game, front-running On We Go on the long run to the line, but at least his effort in defeat offered up plenty of hope for the future. Unsurprisingly, the son of Leading Light was asked to come back to the picturesque Cumbrian venue to contest his latest offering and having once again travelled well throughout, this time he had no trouble in seeing off his opposition off what appeared to be a tempting mark. Given another month off between races – which has clearly been a deliberate policy – the strong-travelling chestnut still has the chance to run against class 5 opposition despite being handed a further hike in the ratings and with jockey Sean Quinlan likely to adopt another course that carries his mount away from the churned up ground around the inside, the combination should prove hard to beat.

EARLS (best price 9/2) seemed to appreciate the removal of the blinkers when running out a comfortable winner over today’s C&D two weeks ago and with connections clearly set on adopting the same policy for his return visit, Gavin Cromwell’s gelding has a fine chance of repeating the dose. 

Barring two forgivable performances, the son of Dream Ahead has been pretty consistent this season and his performance, predicted by the market, was no more than he deserved. Noted going well just on the heels of the leaders on the swing for home, it always looked a matter of the five-year-old needing the breaks in order to claim the prize down the straight and sure enough, a soon as the gap appeared between horses at the furlong pole, he was away and gone in a flash. Pricking his ears at the line, he clearly won with more in hand than the bare margin suggested and even though today’s contest is a good deal more competitive in terms of pure numbers, he certainly has the ability based on his current wellbeing to feature heavily in the final analysis.