Friday Horse Racing Tips from Andy Holding

ENTHRALLMENT (best price 6/1) failed to see out the trip on his first attempt at two miles at Newcastle last time out but prior to that slightly below par effort he had posted a career high number in defeat over today’s C&D and in the hope Kevin Philippart Du Foy’s gelding can rise to occasion again on his return to the Midland venue, he rates the value pick at the morning odds.

Used to a more even gallop over 1m4f, the son of Fastnet Rock was understandably fighting for his head in the early stages at the Gosforth Park track and under those circumstances, there was always a strong possibility he wasn’t going to have enough left in the tank to see out the extra four furlongs when the tempo eventually rose turning for home and that proved to be the case.

Better judged on his excellent performance behind two in-form runners in the shape of Haku and Nolton Cross (fought out finish at Southwell next time) here previously, the speed figure he obtained that day points towards him having a decent chance of creating a splash in this similar contest, all he requires is a reasonable pace to run at to back up that view.

The race won by Doctor Khan Junior at Southwell last week was noted for its extremely fast speed figure and having run about as well as he ever has done based on the numbers, FOLLOW YOUR HEART (NAP) (best price 10/3) deserves to be kept on side dropping back down to Class 4 level. 

After breaking alertly at the Midland venue, Mark Loughnane’s inmate was settled just off the pace and turning for home he was noted going as well as anything. Looking one of the likeliest winners at two-furlong pole, it was from that point he suddenly began to hang to the left which caused him to briefly lose a bit of momentum and it was an action from which he could never really recover. 

That said, he did keep on well enough to finish a close-up fourth and considering the horses around him were all a high standard, he still comes out of the affair with a deal of credit. Setting a high bar based on that performance, the son of Estidhkaar now returns to a venue where many of his previous best displays have taken place and even though he faces an unexposed type in the shape of Al Farabi, he has little to fear based on the data available on the pair up to this point in time.

AL SALT (best price 4/1) had to be marked down a seriously unlucky loser here last time out and now blessed with a seemingly better draw on his return to the scene of the crime, the seven-year-old is strongly fancied to make amends. 

Placed on his first start of the new campaign in desert at Abu Dhabi in November, the seven-year-old looked to have stiff task on the face of things being draw out towards the outside in a hotly contested listed event, but as things panned out, he would have undoubtedly gone close to landing the prize with anything like a clear run down the straight. 

Screaming for room when seemingly going best of all, he never saw any proper daylight until it was all over but even so, he still managed to finish within half a length of the eventual winner Vafortino, which is a testimony to how well he ran. 

Hopefully, he won’t have to forfeit as much ground as he did 28 days ago due to being draw 11 places better (dropped right out from stall 14 last time) and with any amount of luck in running this time around, Ali Al Badawi’s inmate will surely go close to capturing this weaker prize.