Tuesday Racing Tips from Andy Holding

MAYHEM MYA (best price 13/8) clearly bumped into a horse who wasn’t going to relinquish his lead easily at the last meeting here, but the winner aside, Chris Honour’s inmate did precious little wrong and a repeat of a similar level of form should see her a tough nut to crack on her return visit.

A fine fourth to subsequent winner Irish Hill in an ultra-competitive and valuable handicap at Fakenham on her first start after a break, the daughter of Authorized was dropped down in trip for her latest assignment and, having raced a little more keenly than ideal throughout, she couldn’t quite match the pace-setter inside the final half a mile.

That said, she did stay on pretty well to maintain second position and with the time figure of the race also working out the best on the card, her performance was still fairly useful in defeat.

Looking at today’s line-up, there appears to be plenty of pace signed on – which should help her settle – and with one of the better amateur rider’s on board, the six-year-old is entitled to plenty of respect.

HELLO ARTHUR (best price 6/1) has produced two really encouraging performances so far to date and with the possibility of even more to come now racing over a mile, Conrad Allen’s gelding deserves a good deal more respect than he’s been afforded in the early morning skirmishes.

An eye-catcher on his debut at Kempton when coming from a long way behind to finish on the coat tails of the main players, the son of Adaay was pitched into an even hotter heat next time out and as anticipated, he found the necessary improvement to play a more prominent role.

Breaking more alertly and racing handier despite being dropped down in trip, the sturdily-built three-year-old held his own throughout what transpired to be a strongly run race of its kind and not only did he manage to record a useful overall time figure, his final three furlong splits of 34.4 also fared favourable with the rest of the runners that evening (much better than Dutch Kingdom’s 35.9 on the same card).

Up to a mile for the first time, there’s clearly an element of risk attached to his prospects, but at the prices, he’s more than worth a roll of the dice.

BOURBALI (best price 7/1) looked to taken out of his comfort zone around Huntingdon’s sharp track on good ground last time out, but now back under more suitable conditions, Joe Tizzard’s gelding is fancied to show his true worth.

A creditable third in a hot Cheltenham handicap hurdle earlier in the campaign, the son of Sinndar fared even more favourably in a better race at Kempton next time and when you consider he had subsequent listed winner Theatre Glory well beaten off in behind him that day, his performance reads well in the context of today’s race.

A game winner over today’s C&D last season, a return to the Esher venue with some cut in the ground (always rides softer than official going description suggests), the likeable six-year-old makes plenty of each-way appeal with most firms offering four places.