Tuesday Horse Racing Tips from Andy Holding

The ability to handle heavy ground in the final two weeks of the season is going to be paramount – even more so with two-year-olds – so with that in mind, ROGUE ENFORCER (best price 7/4) is taken to put his knowledge of such conditions to good use.

Turned over at odds-on at Ripon the time before, Peter Chapple Hyam’s colt was on something of a retrieval mission in a similar race at Beverley two weeks later and this time he duly made no mistake.

Despite being drawn towards the outside at the Yorkshire track, he soon raced prominently to hold every chance by halfway and once sent to the front approaching the furlong pole, he had the necessary requirements to seal the victory in game fashion.

Posting a good time in the process, he will need to run to a similar level to gain the day over the likes of Tsunami Spirit and the equally promising Lettuce Leaf (shaped well on debut), but with conditions guaranteed to suit, the son of Profitable can end his season on a high.

Not much strength in depth in this mares and fillies’ maiden and it looks well within the capabilities of TIME TO TELL (best price 2/1) providing she runs anywhere near the level she did over the same C&D 19 days ago.

Sent off 28-1 for her debut in what looked a competitive heat, Joseph O’Brien’s filly was in a position turning for home whereby she was unlikely to bely those odds, but to her great credit, she managed to stay on so strongly from the rear of the field, she was the only one to offer any resistance to the front runner, Milwaukee, inside the final furlong.

Not knocked about to do so, the daughter of Australia should benefit greatly from the sympathy afforded to her and having already proven she can handle a strongly run affair on heavy ground over a demanding 1m4f, it will take a performance of some note from one of her rivals to prevent her from opening her account.

NOCTE VOLATUS (best price 4/1) made a perfectly satisfactory start to his campaign when chasing the smart Al Dancer (run well since) home at the opening meeting here 17 days ago and with the likelihood of natural improvement to come along with slight drop in grade, Tom Lacey’s gelding has every chance of going one place better on his return visit.

Winless last season, he did, however, run some notable races in defeat including when a creditable sixth in the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham’s November meeting and on the evidence of what we saw of him at the Welsh venue recently, he is not far off that level at present.

Keeping on well late on, he couldn’t quite match the winner’s class after the last, but it was a performance to suggest a bright season awaits and anything other than another bold show would have to go down as a disappointment.

ELSHAMEEQ (best price 5/2) pulled off an unlikely victory at Chelmsford last time out and having suggested his winning turn wasn’t too far away with his effort over today’s C&D previously, a return to the Gosforth Park venue can reap maximum rewards.

Held up towards the rear at the Essex track, the four-yea-old had nothing to do with the strong early pace set by Lethal Touch and as it transpired, those tactics paid handsome dividends at the business as he came sweeping through with sustained run off the home bend to get up in the shadows of the post.

To highlight the speed figure for the grade that night, he was one of only a handful of horses who has dipped under the magical 1.40.0 barrier for a circuit of Chelmsford in recent times and with the strong possibility that the fifth home, Swing To The Stars, would have obliged but for the race to voided due to stricken horse at the same course last week, the form already looks reliable.

Unsuited by the way the race panned out here the time before, he will probably need a more secure gallop on his return to Gosforth Park this afternoon, but provided that does turn out to be the case, Kevin Frost’s gelding can continue his progression at this level.