Monday Racing Tips from Andy Holding

CLEARANCE (best price 4/1) may be the elder statesman of the party, but what he lacks in terms of less mileage, he more than makes up for with solid C&D form and it is that valuable knowledge that might allow him to bridge the gap against several from the younger brigade.

A bit disappointing on his previous outing at Fontwell, Michael Blake’s inmate was on a bit of a retrieval mission here last time out, but as he had often done in the past, he came alive once smelling the west country air. Sitting in behind the decent pace set by the front-running Afta Party, the nine-year-old arrived going well on the run down to the last and with a fluent leap, he ended landing running to quicken away from his main rivals on the short run-in.

Now 1341 at today’s venue, a decent surface is also fairly important to him, so providing the Kingsteignton circuit doesn’t soak up too much rain between now and the off, he has a obvious chance of adding to those impressive stats. Based on his smooth victory at Southwell last time, The Grey Falco looks the obvious threat.

PIZ NAIR (best price 9/2) may have only finished fourth on his debut over today’s C&D three weeks ago, but he left the distinct impression he was one of the better prospects out of the race going forward and he is strongly fancied to press home that opinion on his return to the same venue.

Bidding to become George Scott’s fourth first-time-out winning juvenile of the season at the Berkshire venue, he travelled strongly from the start, but as sometimes can be the case, his early exertions took over in the latter stages and he ended up not quite seeing the job through.

However, his effort must go down as a hugely encouraging one and with the returning to the scene of that promising start seen as a wise move by connections, the son of Bated Breath is almost certain to make his presence felt under similar conditions.