Thursday Racing Tips from Andy Holding

The draw was always likely to catch out LAURENTIA (best priced 11/4) here last time out and so it proved, but she did more than enough to suggest she remains in top form and there seems no obvious reason to desert Dean Ivory’s mare on her return visit.

Posted out wide in stall 14 three weeks ago, the six-year-old mare was dropped out towards the rear in order to give her every chance of obtaining the best possible result and those tactics certainly worked the oracle as she came home best of all to finish a never-nearer second.

A veteran of 35 races on the all-weather, the daughter of Iffraaj seems to save most of her best efforts – certainly based on the clock – for today’s venue, and with today’s better draw (stall one) hopefully leading to her being in a more advantageous position throughout, she should have every chance of going one place better.

OVERSTATE (best priced 5/2) was hugely unlucky to bump into the very progressive Queen Of Ipanema (now rated 80) over today’s C&D last time out, but with seemingly nothing of that sort of calibre up against him on his return to the Essex venue, the son of Oasis Dream is fancied to return to winning ways.

Dismissed in the betting here two starts ago, the three-year-old opened up a sort of advantage that was unable to be bridged by the well-backed Alwajd and that’s not for the first time he’s been given too much rope. An eight-length winner when allowed to dictate at Ripon on the grass in the Summer, it’s clear he’s quite handy at this level when things go his way and connections will be no doubt hoping he can extricate himself from the rest of his rivals here tonight. If you take away the winner here 12 days ago, Mike Murphy and Michael Keady’s inmate finished nicely ahead of the chasing pack and providing he doesn’t get into a power struggle with his main rival for the lead on his return visit, he has the game to turn away this kind of opposition again.