Friday Horse Racing Tips from Andy Holding

A tight knit affair of those involved down the front end of the market but of the main players, MIXEDWAVE (best price 11/4) arguably comes here with the strongest recent form, and he deserves to be played accordingly. 

A game winner at Market Rasen two starts ago, Pam Sly’s inmate had the race taken off him due to misuse of the whip by his rider and no doubt that travesty fuelled the flames in his bid to make amends on his return visit a few weeks later. 

Noted going well coming out of the back straight at the Lincolnshire track, it soon became apparent his main market rival, O’ Connell’s was moving equally sweetly and from the third last, he just couldn’t quite come to terms with a novice who had a touch too much quality for a race of that nature. 

That said, the time figure he posted in defeat suggested he’d easily run to a career high level and having confirmed on several occasion now that a sharp, right-handed circuit over three miles suits him best, including two at today’s track, the seven-year-old looks set to gain due reward for his consistency.

SPARKLING SPIRIT (best price 13/2) has yet to register a victory in 14 starts but her last two efforts since being fitted with the blinkers suggest she is edging towards breaking that unwanted hoodoo and following another solid effort at Chelmsford last night, Adrian Keatley’s filly’s luck looks set to change. 

Just running out of steam late on after chasing a very hot pace at Kempton three runs ago, the daughter of Invincible Spirit was sent to Newcastle for her next encounter and although she didn’t manage to advance her finishing position, the numbers she posted in defeat pointed towards an improved effort.

Held up behind the strong tempo at the Gosforth Park track, she ran out of room at a crucial stage and by the time she’d been extricated from the pocket, the first two had flown. The way she kept on up the stands’ side rail, however, suggested she may have had a larger say in the outcome with a clearer run and based on that theory, she should go very close to landing this similar contest with a better rub of the green. Her performance from last night did nothing to dispel that view.

LUNARSCAPE (best price 4/1) featured heavily in a race which has already started to work out well over tonight’s course last time out and with the drop back down in trip seen as a positive move from connections based on that effort and her overall profile, Mark Loughnane’s filly has a decent opportunity to finally break her all-weather duck. 

Settled towards the rear in the early stages of what turned out to be a well-run affair 16 days ago, the daughter of Cityscape made her bid for glory entering the home straight but unfortunately for her she couldn’t quite come to terms with the injection of speed exhibited by eventual winner, Goldsmith, and she had to resign herself to finish an honourable third. 

Given the speed figure of the race and in the light of subsequent events, (winner and fourth won since) her performance still suggests she remains on an upward curve and with tonight’s contest unlikely to contain anything of the same magnitude in terms of quality, the four-year-old can see her consistency rewarded.