Racing on Thursday in the UK and Ireland takes place at Ayr, Chelmsford (AW), Listowel, Pontefract and Yarmouth.
One of our fancies comes at Ayr where a Rebecca Menzies’ gelding can continue his excellent run of form on the track to record a third victory in his last four starts. He features in the pick of the action from Ayr, a class two handicap over 1m2f.
Thursday Racing Tips
14:25 Ayr – Aconcagua Mountain @ 9/2
Aconcagua Mountain has been running consistently well this season without success. He came very close to that opening win earlier this month at Musselburgh when he was second of 10 runners, beaten by a length. The middle-distance runner was denied a clear run at various points in that race.
The five-year-old is set to go up 2lb in the future, so he is well at the weight here. He will appreciate the ‘Good To Soft’ ground, while blinkers, which have worked well for him before, are being applied once again.
Iain Jardine’s gelding features on the Betfred Betfinder as one of the Most Napped selections today. A repeat of his latest effort at Musselburgh might be good enough to land the top prize this time at this change in venue.
15:00 Ayr – Painters Palette @ 10/3
A second win in his last three starts arrived for Painters Palette at Wolverhampton just a couple of weeks ago over their extended 1m1f trip. With that success, he brought his strike-rate on the all-weather surface up to an impressive 75% (three wins from four starts).
Rebecca Menzies’ runner is now back on turf, but he has shown enough positive performances on this surface to suggest that will not be a problem for the four-year-old, including when scoring at Redcar (1m) on ‘Good’ ground last month.
The four-year-old looks to be a horse that is not done improving, particularly over this 1m2f distance. With the help of talented 3lb claimer Frederick Larson, he can defy his latest 6lb rise in the ratings to add to his tally.
15:55 Yarmouth – First Folio @ 2/1
First Folio won this race at Yarmouth 12 months ago off a 4lb higher mark than he is faced with this afternoon. The sprinter has yet to score since then, but what that means is he has fallen down the ratings.
The son of Dark Angel produced his best performance of the season so far last time out at Thirsk (6f) when he hit the frame, finishing third of 12 runners. His connections will be encouraged by how strongly he finished that race.
This latest mark of 93 is the lowest rating this horse has had since June 2021. He began the season off 101, so the handicapper has now given him a great chance of getting back to winning ways.
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