Horse Racing Tips: 11/4 shot stars in Thursday’s selections

There's plenty of racing to enjoy on Thursday, with six meetings taking place across Britain and Ireland. The Curragh kicks us off in the afternoon and Carlisle, Brighton and Wincanton follow soon after, while the evening action is provided by Southwell and Chelmsford.

I have three strong horse racing tips across the cards and among them is a Devon-based raider for Nigel Hawke at Carlisle who should take well to fences.

13:57 Carlisle - Donnacha @ 11/4

Nigel Hawke is set to send one runner from Devon to Carlisle on Thursday and the horse in question is definitely one to note on his first run over fences.

DONNACHA managed to win three times in nine starts over hurdles and failed to make the frame only twice.

He was last seen at Exeter in April, when he pulled clear to win a handicap hurdle by just shy of five lengths. The third provided a boost by winning next time, although the other four runners have let the form down.

Donnacha was thrown in the deep end when connections decided to have a crack at the Betfair Hurdle in February, although he was far from disgraced with a midfield finish.

This sort of level for his chasing debut should be much more to his liking and there’s still scope for improvement.

There’s plenty of evidence from his pedigree to suggest fences will be suitable for this six-year-old and this progressive type should be capable of winning more races before the handicapper catches up.

Hawke has a healthy strike-rate of 28 per cent at Carlisle, with 10 winners from 36 runners, and there’s every chance that Donnacha can add to the tally.

14:53 Wincanton - Fantastikas @ 7/2

Truth be told, FANTASTIKAS has been a little disappointing and perhaps hasn’t reached the level he once promised. The handicapper has responded accordingly, however, and his rapidly declining handicap mark makes him interesting in the 3m1f handicap chase at Wincanton.

His latest victory came in January 2022 in a valuable novice chase at Lingfield, where he just managed to hold off the runner-up and the rest were well beaten.

Nigel Twiston-Davies’ gelding acquitted himself well in Graded company that season, finishing second and third in Grade 2s, and easily won a handicap chase off 128.

He is now rated 122 and two starts ago he was a close second off 1lb higher than that at Ludlow. He is more than capable of going one better if putting his best foot forward.

This is a good time of year for the Twiston-Davies yard and the stable has an excellent strike-rate of 34 per cent in the last fortnight.

19:00 Southwell - Paborus @ 9/2

PABORUS is interesting in Southwell’s feature race as he remains lightly raced in handicap company.

Ed Bethell’s three-year-old made a fine start to the season when getting off the mark in a Redcar novice at the second time of asking. He led for most of the race and pulled clear to score by just shy of four lengths.

It was a similar story at Carlisle when he scored under a penalty next time, despite being plenty keen enough in the early stages.

You can forgive his run on his handicap debut at York last time as he clearly needed the experience and would have learned plenty from it. He’s worth another go here and Callum Rodriguez is on board again.

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