Thursday Horse Racing Tips from Andy Holding

WRIST ART (best price 10/3) hails from a stable that can do very little wrong at present and arriving here following a tremendous effort at Listowel last time out, a run of similar magnitude can reap maximum rewards.

As regular racegoers and punters alike know, winning or even just competing from a wide draw at the Kerry venue is extremely difficult, so any horse that defies the trends quite rightly deserves upgrading. Posted out in stall 19 of 19 in a competitive affair two weeks ago, the six-year-old was automatically taken back in the early stages and even though that manoeuvre ultimately cost him the main prize, it did at least serve the purpose of allowing him to finish an honourable second to subsequent winner, Drop The Dip.

Given the amount of ground he forfeited and made up late in the piece, he clearly remains in top form and with today’s better draw likely to result in a more favourable early position, the son of Sir Prancealot is fancied to prove too strong for his rivals at the business end.

INCH HOUSE (NAP) (best price 5/2) and Riskintheground are the two in this field who can lay claim to the possibility of becoming proper ‘Saturday’ horses during the winter and with the former having the stronger profile of the pair, Jonjo O’Neill’s inmate is fancied to make the perfect start to his new discipline.

Taking a while to get his act together over hurdles, the six-year-old finally delivered the goods at Chepstow on his final start of the campaign and with connections taking the decision to pull the plug from that point onwards, he begins life over fences off what appears a workable mark.

A former point winner who has the physique to do well over the larger obstacles, it’s easy to see him plying his trade in some quality novice handicaps throughout the early part of the campaign and with today’s race offering up the perfect opportunity to get the ball rolling without overtaxing him too much, anything other than a bold attempt would have to go down as a major blow to all concerned.

Looking at the forecast for Ireland today, the Co Tipperary venue is going to get a fair soaking this morning and into the afternoon so with conditions set to become pretty testing for the runners as racing continues during the card, QUIZ TEST (best price 7/1) is one of the performers in this contest more likely than most to cope with the examination at hand.

Clocking an above average time figure for the grade when a convincing winner of a 0-65 handicap at Cork back in July, the three-year-old failed in his bid to repeat the dose on his return visit two months later and on that form alone, you’d say he has a bit to find with his conqueror that day, Ameerat Jumaira.

However, the ground that day was plenty lively enough and since then he has gone on to prove himself well suited by a thorough test in much softer conditions at Listowel recently. In a race run at a sound pace given the nature of the ground and wind, the Footstepsinthesand gelding responded well for pressure inside the final quarter mile and in doing so, he was gaining hand over fist on the front pair as the line approached.

Clearly not one to shirk the issue when asked to go through the pain barrier, this game individual can call on that part of his game again in a contest likely to sort the wheat from the chaff.