Saturday's Horse Racing Tips from Andy Holding

The London Gold Cup at Newbury was noted for its strong speed figure for the grade and although PERSICA (best price 3-1) proved no match for winner King’s Gambit - who has reportedly seen bids more than a million and a half bucks – he did more than enough to suggest races of a similar nature will soon come his way and today’s contest looks an ideal opportunity to back up that view. 

Having his first run beyond a mile at the Berkshire track, the son of New Bay was still plenty keen enough despite the sound pace set by Chantilly at the head of affairs and ultimately that propensity to race exuberantly and expend value energy cost him dear when launched with his challenge from three out. 

Looking dangerous with the way he loomed up a furlong out, he didn’t quite see out the trip as well as the winner but given the amount of ground he made up and the overall strength of the form, it was still a commendable performance under the circumstances. 

Obviously, he will need to settle better in the early stages here today if he is going to come out on top, but he is worth another attempt at the trip to see where his future lies. If not staying today, he could easily drop back to a mile and become a live Britannia contender. 

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It’s been a proper tale of woe for Ballydoyle in the Classics so far this season and there’s a good deal of unrest regarding their chief hope City Of Troy following his total flop in the 2000 Guineas. Whether he can resurrect his career in one fell swoop remains to be seen and it might well be that Los Angeles proves a better candidate for the job in any case. That said, with both taking out a huge chunk in the market, the Derby looks cherry ripe for an upset and both AMBIENTE FRIENDLY (best price 8-1) and DEIRA MILE (best price 22-1) have enough strong form lines of their own to each stake a claim for glory. 

The former went into the Lingfield Derby trial massively underestimated, which seemed crazy considering he had run so well despite doing a lot wrong in the strongly run Fielden Stakes at Newmarket previously, and he ended up making total mincemeat of some highly regarded types, in turn, clocking a very fast time figure.

Now learning to settle better, he is one of the few in the field proven over the trip in a strongly run race and having also shown a nice deftness to his game the way he came down the hill at the Surrey venue, this well-balanced colt can put up a bold show in a bid to provide his trainer/owner combination their biggest ever prize. 

The latter has a little more to prove in the sense he is unproven over the trip, but he shapes like he will stay well, and based on the sectionals he knocked out at Windsor on his only start this term, he also has gears to get him out of any traffic problems he may encounter along the way. 

Based on his excellent effort in last season’s Futurity at Doncaster, he hasn’t got too much to find with Ancient Wisdom and at four times the price compared to his old rival here, Owen Burrows’ inmate can prove one of the surprise packages in what looks a wide-open affair. 

Harry Eustace has struck with two improving stayers in the shape of Divine Comedy and Crystal Delight so far this season and the Newmarket handler could well be on the mark again with ZIGGY (best price 5-1) now stepping up to a trip more in-keeping with his profile. 

Although he ran well enough on his first outing for 451 days here two months ago, the six-year-old lacked the gears to go with the in-form winner, Crystal Delight, and he left the impression he may be worth revisiting 1m4f, a trip he scored convincing over back in November 2022. 

Low mileage for a horse of his age, unexposed at the trip and proven over today’s unique son, the son of Sixties Icon has plenty in his favour and deserves to be backed accordingly. 

ARAMRAM (best price 5-1) created a favourable impression both visually and on the clock when making a successful seasonal bow at Nottingham three weeks ago and with the strong possibility of more to come over further, Richard Hannon’s inmate makes a tremendous amount of appeal at the morning prices. 

Undergoing a wind operation before shipping up at the Midland venue, there was a clear expectation of something more promising based on the pre-race market interest in the son of Blue Point and, jumping out sharply to stamp his authority of proceedings, he duly justified the confidence in his direction from gate to wire. 

Setting strong fractions from the outset, the further he went, the better he looked and with the data suggesting he could well turn out to be a pattern horse in the future, today’s examination will hopefully confirm that thought process. 

The 5f sprint won by BURNING CASH (best price 5-1) at Thirsk recently was noted for its strong speed figure for the grade and both the winner and MUKER (best price 12-1), who caught the eye with the way he finished off his race, are worth playing against the field in this similar affair. 

The former was very strong at the finish at the Yorkshire venue, and it was a big bounce back in the right direction after a series of slightly below par efforts. A dual winner over today’s C&D this time last year, Paul Midgley’s inmate looks in the sort of form to take advantage of a mark still significantly lower than his best. 

The latter was slowly away and dived out to the left 14 days, which meant his chances of winning were virtually nil right from the word go. He did, however, make up a tremendous amount of ground in the latter stages to suggest he might have been a more significant factor with a cleaner start and working on that theory, Nigel Tinkler’s’ inmate is worth a small interest at the morning odds.