We have a busy Thursday on our hands this week, with no fewer than seven meetings taking place across Britain and Ireland, and 3 Thursday Racing Tips to look forward to for punters.
Thursday Racing Tips: Marie’s Rock to Star at Bath
Cheltenham Festival-winning Grade 1 hurdler Marie’s Rock is the most notable runner of the day, as she makes her second start on the Flat in Bath’s feature Listed event. We’ve had a good look at Thursday’s cards and picked out our three strongest fancies, including a progressive Paul Nicholls-trained mare that should take well to fences.
Thursday Racing Tips: Florencethemachine (2.23 Exeter)
This is Nicholls’ favourite time of year, with Chepstow’s unofficial National Hunt season opener kicking off on Friday. He has a couple of runners at Exeter on Thursday and the most interesting of them is definitely Florencethemachine who is making her debut over fences. She won a couple of races over hurdles but chasing was always going to be her game and significant improvement is expected over the larger obstacles.
The daughter of Malinas won her sole Irish point by three lengths at Monksgrange in March 2023 and she tries three miles for the first time under rules here. Her handicap success over an extended 2m7f at Chepstow when last seen suggests it’ll be no problem at all. There’s always the chance that she’ll need the run on her first start since April but provided Nicholls’ mare is sharp enough here, she looks capable of progressing nicely in this sphere. Champion jockey Harry Cobden is on board and that’s never a bad thing.
Thursday Racing Tips: Marie’s Rock (3.10 Bath)
Marie’s Rock would be the hot favourite for this race if hurdles form was directly translatable to the Flat. Nicky Henderson’s mare won back-to-back Grade 1 races in 2022, scoring in the Mares’ Hurdle and Mares Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham and Punchestown She has maintained a good level of form since then, despite not quite reaching those levels. It was a good effort when winning a Grade 2 mares’ hurdle at Doncaster in January, although she struggled at Cheltenham and Aintree.
The experienced Shadwell-retained jockey Jim Crowley has been booked for the ride and he’ll know exactly how to educate her through the race, as this is just her second start on the Flat. None of her rivals will have a better engine and she may well be the classiest runner of her cohort. Making her Flat debut in a Group 3 at York in May, she was far from disgraced when finishing fifth behind some useful performers. This Listed race should be a little easier and she doesn’t have a great deal to find on the evidence of that first run.
Thursday Racing Tips: Cool Party (8.00 Southwell)
Charlie Johnston’s runner Cool Party could be one to watch here, as his record on the all-weather is very good and the return to an artificial surface is set to suit. He won nicely over course and distance in April when successfully making all the running to come out on top by two lengths. A 3lb higher mark shouldn’t be unmanageable, especially on that form, and it’ll be disappointing if he’s not in the mix.
It’s easy to forgive his latest run, which came after an absence of 165 days and one would imagine he’ll be sharper this time around. The gelded son of Postponed has been dropped 1lb by the handicapper since and a big run is anticipated.
By Jack Ogalbe
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