Monday Racing Tips from Andy Holding

TAWAFAG (NAP) (best price 11/4) never really featured despite being well fancied to do so on his debut at Redcar last month, but at the same time, he showed more than enough to suggest he will be a totally different proposition next time and he deserves to be played accordingly. 

A little tardy coming out of the gate at the Yorkshire venue, the son of Starspangledbanner wasn’t too far off the pace at the halfway stage, but just as the tempo began to crank up a notch or two inside the final two furlongs, it was at this point where his lack of knowledge really began to show. Visibly green in the latter stages, it was noticeable that Roger Varian’s colt ran in to traffic difficulties just when trying to gather up a head of steam and it was at that point when he was spared a hard time. 

Likely to be all the better for that initial experience 24 days ago, the strappy grey now has the benefit of an extra furlong and a more even surface to show his true worth and in a race where barring the odd handful, the opposition doesn’t look overly strong, he’s strongly fancied to play a more significant role than on his opening bow.

FRANCESI (best price 4/1) has a pretty good cv on an all-weather surface and following yet another solid effort over today’s C&D last time out, Shaun Woods’ gelding is expected to put in another decent shift. 

A winner over a mile at Lingfield back in April, the son of Caravaggio has subsequently gone on to finish runner-up on his next three starts and with the feature of all those performances the speed figures he’s managed to produce, it’s clear he is gradually improving his game despite not getting maximum rewards. 

Just outrun by Be Lucky My Son in a strongly run affair at Chelmsford two starts ago, a similar fate awaited him again at the Dunstall Park track a month later when finding the returning-to-form Sucellus too strong for him in the closing stages. That said, at least he proved that tonight’s trip of the extended 1m1f now opens up plenty of options for the foreseeable future and with the third horse, Visibility, going on to boost the form since, there’s every reason to feel upbeat about the three-year-old grey following suit on his return visit.