Horse Racing Trader’s Tips: Thurles Preview – Saturday 21st March
Who is our trader looking at on the ITV Racing card?
Been missing Horse Racing this week? Then we’ve got just the thing. There’s a seven-race card from Thurles on Saturday, with five contests live on ITV4 from 1:30.
Here, our traders run through which trainer, horse and jockey you should be looking out for when they go to post in Tipperary on Saturday.
Trainer to watch
No prizes for guessing who has the best strike-rate at Thurles this season. Irish supremo Willie Mullins has chalked up 12 winners from 37 runners at the venue. That’s a mightily impressive strike-rate of 32%.
The champion trainer has three runners on the card, all of which have their relative merits.
Karl Der Grosse is the first up at 2:10. The French recruit from Emmanuel Clayeux hasn’t been seen for over 400 days since being pulled up at this venue in February 2019. He had looked a promising novice previously and is worth another chance here.
Next up for the Closutton man is Cut The Mustard in the 3:10. The eight-year-old has won twice over fences, including when bounding clear at Naas by 6l last month. That said, she’ll have to find some improvement to reverse the form with favourite Sizing Pottsie here.
However, Willie’s best chance of a winner arguably comes in the 4:10. Former top class flat horse Max Dynamite, who has run creditably behind super stayer Stradivarius in the past, will attempt to break his duck over fences.
Horse to watch
We already know the merits of the Grade 3 Pierce Molony Memorial Novice. It looks like a really strong contest with all nine of the runners holding solid claims.
Sizing Pottsie looks set to go off as the favourite, and while Jessica Harrington’s runner unseated his rider on his first Chase start over Christmas, he has since thrived over the bigger obstacles in two starts since.
He won by 15l at Fairyhouse and followed that up with a taking 12l success in the Grade 3 Flyingbolt Novice Chase earlier this month. He has a 6lb penalty to contend with following that win, but he’s a progressive horse on an upward curve. He looks exciting for the future.
Jockey to watch
In the absence of Ruby Walsh, Willie Mullins and Paul Townend are proving a potent combination. The dual-Gold Cup-winning jockey has six winners from 19 rides at Thurles this term. He pilots all three from the Mullins yard we’ve mentioned above.
Philip Enright, on the other hand, doesn’t boast quite the same ammunition as Townend. Yet he’s still having a great time of it this season with 37 winners on the board this campaign.
That includes five at Thurles, with three of those returning an SP of 10/1 or bigger. It could be worth following his mounts on the card this Saturday – Ministerforsport (3:10), Wrong Direction (3:40), Monty’s Mission (4:10) – with some big rewards potentially on offer.
All odds and markets correct as of date of publication
