Thursday Racing Tips: Kit can bag a win at Chelmsford

The cold weather has wiped out the three National Hunt meetings which were scheduled to take place on Thursday, which leaves us with two all-weather fixtures to look forward to.

Chelmsford kicks us off in the afternoon with a six-race card, before Southwell’s eight-race fixture brings us into the evening.

One of our strongest fancies for the day runs at Chelmsford and Jack Channon’s gelding will be looking to build on some decent recent efforts in order to return to the winners’ enclosure.

13:20 Chelmsford - Reset Button @ 7/1

Ben Brookhouse’s Reset Button put in a solid effort on his first start for 215 days at Southwell last time out (1m4f, standard). One would imagine he will improve for the run and the extended 1m5f trip should be to his liking here.

The six-year-old was just denied here over 1m6f back in December 2022 off a mark of 50. Currently on a 3lb lower mark, he should go close if reproducing a similar run. A more recent effort to note is his three-and-a-half-length fifth over course and distance in April, which came off a 4lb higher mark.

Consistency hasn’t really been his forte in recent times but his best form would suggest that he has the ability to play a major role here.

13:55 Chelmsford - Kitbag @ 3/1

Kitbag goes for Jack Channon in the 0-58 6f handicap and the race presents an excellent opportunity to return to winning ways.

Finishing fourth and sixth in his last couple of starts, those efforts were probably better than the bare result suggests and he wasn’t beaten too far in either race. He was a little too keen over course and distance last time out and his finishing effort suffered as a result.

The handicapper has dropped him 1lb for that latest effort and his current mark is just 2lb higher than his last winning one. That victory came at Wolverhampton last month, although he doesn’t benefit from George Bass’ 3lb claim here.

David Probert is in the saddle and he’s been in decent form recently, completing a double at Wolverhampton on Tuesday. Channon’s four-year-old should be competitive off this mark and victory could very well be on the cards.

15:05 Chelmsford - Glencalvie @ 12/1

Look out for Glencalvie at Chelmsford as Phil McEntee’s unexposed handicapper looks pretty close to getting off the mark.

This daughter of Gleneagles has had eight starts to date and appears to be slowly finding her feet in handicap company. It was a career-best effort over an extended mile at Wolverhampton last time out, when finishing second, and further progress seems likely.

She defied her substantial odds to run a cracker, making good progress in the final furlong to chase down the winner, despite not being in danger of getting her head in front. The drop back to 7f is interesting and she ran a solid race on her only start at this trip, when finishing sixth in a Leicester novice back in August.

3lb claimer Grace McEntee is on board here and she’s defending a 100 per-cent record at Southwell in 2024, with two winners from her two rides at the track so far. It would be no surprise to see Glencalvie take another step forward here and a big run is expected.