Horse Racing Tips: Allegrino primed to go one better

There are three Jumps meetings taking place across the UK and Ireland on Thursday with Taunton, Ffos Las and Clonmel on offer, as well as an all-weather evening card from Chelmsford.

Amongst our Thursday fancies is one for trainer Andrew Balding who put up a vastly improved effort last time out and looks set to go one better.

17:30 Chelmsford - Allegrino @ 5/1

Andrew Balding’s three-year-old filly Allegrino looks the one to side with in the opener at Chelmsford and can get off the mark at the third attempt.

She was very disappointing on her debut at Southwell in November, failing to beat a rival home, but that effort is best forgiven. She showed plenty of inexperience on that occasion, dwelling at the start and hanging in the closing stages.

Allegrino improved considerably on her next outing at Kempton, finishing a close second when just denied. She was well positioned throughout and raced far more professionally, suggesting she had learnt plenty from her debut.

This contest does not look overly strong and, with further improvement likely, she can go one better than last time and open her account.

19:30 Chelmsford - Merrimack @ 9/4

Merrimack looks to have a solid chance of gaining his first all-weather success at the 12th attempt. A four-time winner on turf from 18 starts, he is rated 72 in that sphere and appears well treated running off 67 here.

He has produced plenty of respectable efforts on the all-weather, including two placed runs in March and April when competing from a mark of 66.

Merrimack ran poorly when tried off a career-high mark of 72 in December, but the drop of 5lb saw him bounce back to form with a good third on his latest outing.

He races from the same mark again and is dropped back to 5f, the distance over which all of his victories have been achieved, and he looks to have a good chance.

20:00 Chelmsford - High On Hope @ 10/11

With only five runners set to go to post, Michael Appleby’s four-year-old High On Hope looks the one to side with.

He has been a frustrating horse to follow, managing just one win from 17 career starts despite finishing placed on numerous occasions. That sole success came on his second start for his current yard and there may yet be more to come.

He has yet to finish out of the frame in three all-weather starts and has improved his RPR with each run.

His form reads well, having been placed in two Class 3 all-weather handicaps, and he was sent off favourite at Wolverhampton last time. On that occasion he failed to settle early, which likely cost him, but he still ran a respectable race.

High On Hope remains relatively unexposed for his new trainer and on the all-weather, so a repeat of his last two efforts should see him go close once again.

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