Clonmel Tips: Improvement on the cards for Mullins recruit

A busy Thursday awaits with four meetings taking place in Britain and Ireland - one being a National Hunt card from Clonmel.

We’ve picked out a trio of selections from the County Tipperary venue, which will need to pass a 7.30am inspection to go ahead.

14:10 - Enola @ 4/6

Willie Mullins has a superb strike-rate at most racecourses in Ireland and it is worth noting that he has had seven winners from just 14 runners at Clonmel so far this season. He has solid claims of enhancing that 50 per cent strike-rate with Enola on Thursday.

The five-year-old gave the impression that she would come on for the run when fourth on her stable debut at Cork in November and she was too fresh in the early stages of that contest.

However, the mare can be forgiven the over-racing in the early stages given that it was her first start for 14 months and there’s every chance that she’ll leave that run behind for a yard that excel with their recruits from France.

Previously, the daughter of Recorder had been fairly prolific on the Flat in France, signing off her time over there with a Listed success at Marseille before a sale of €200,000 at the Arqana Sales in October 2022.

If she can get anywhere near the level of her Flat ability, she could be hard to beat in a race that looks below par for an Irish maiden hurdle. It is encouraging that she gets the vote of Paul Townend over her stablemate Implicit, who demonstrated ability at this venue on her debut.

15:20 - Chosen Shant @ 11/2

Having made the frame in Britain on several occasions for Ian Williams a couple of seasons ago, it might be worth taking a chance on Chosen Shant to get her head in front for the first time.

The mare had looked more effective over further than this 2m½f trip for Williams but after showing very little on her first two outings for her new yard, she seemed to relish a drop back in trip when third of 17 at Naas last month.

Having dropped more than a stone in the weights since her time in Britain, she may be up to landing this and testing ground could help bring her stamina into play.

15:55 - Blossom De Mai @ 13/2

Blossom De Mai showed promise in a bumper on her debut and returned to form on the back of an 11-month absence at Tramore in November, winning by more than two lengths having been held up throughout.

New tactics seem to be the key to her and she ran well again when settled off the pace before finishing fifth at Navan, paying the price for an eyecatching mid-race move before fading.

That effort is worth marking up given the lack of pace that was on in the race and it was a tough ask for her to go back-to-back given her lengthy break before her penultimate start. She may be able to get back on track if she gets a decent pace to aim at here.