Thursday Racing Tips: Story can light up the evening at Southwell

With the abandonment of Thursday’s sole Irish meeting, there’s just two National Hunt cards and one all-weather fixture to look forward to on the day.

Fontwell is the first meeting to kick off and it’s swiftly followed by Wetherby, whilst Southwell’s nine-race all-weather card completes the day’s action.

We have three strong fancies on the day, with one from each of the three scheduled meetings. One of which is an Irish raider making its first foray into handicap company.

15:07 Fontwell - Getaway Drumlee @ 13/8

Keep an eye out for GETAWAY DRUMLEE at Fontwell on Thursday, as the Ben Pauling-trained gelding is thoroughly unexposed over hurdles and has been presented with a good opportunity to return to winning ways.

The aptly named son of Getaway was an impressive winner of a Hereford novice on his debut over hurdles in October 2022. He then struggled behind the very smart Hermes Allen in a Grade 2 at Cheltenham but there was certainly no shame in that.

Some serious and obvious excuses make his penultimate effort easily excusable. Finishing lame and suffering from an irregular heartbeat that day, putting a line through that run is the best course of action.

It was a fair effort on his first start back after a 392-day absence on handicap debut at Doncaster last time out, when finishing second to an impressive stablemate. He’s entitled to improve plenty for that run and the eight-year-old should go close, running off the same mark here.

15:55 Wetherby - Al Kalila @ 9/1

This race is an interesting handicap hurdle that is shaping up to be a very competitive affair. There are a couple of last-time-out winners to consider but it’s Irish raider AL KALILA that really draws the eye here.

The son of Soldier Of Fortune has only had three runs over hurdles so far and there have been clear signs of improvement with every start. There was lots to like about his fifth behind a fairly smart prospect at Down Royal on his penultimate start.

It was an even better display at Ayr last time out and he was outsprinted by a horse that had previously won over two miles, when finishing second and was eight lengths in front of the next horse. That was certainly a performance that bodes well here and he can build on it.

The switch to handicaps should encourage further improvement and an opening mark of 109 looks very workable. Ben Bromley takes 5lb off as well and it would be a surprise if Al Kalila isn’t bang in the mix here.

17:00 Southwell - Evening Story @ 11/2

Grant Tuer’s EVENING STORY clearly possesses plenty of stamina and she tries 1m6f for the first time here. The four-year-old daughter of New Bay finished down the field on her seasonal reappearance at Newcastle earlier this month and she clearly needed the run.

With that in mind, she should be much sharper this time around and a much improved effort is expected. It’s worth noting that 1m2f is probably a bit on the sharp side for her these days and she’ll also benefit from being dropped 2lb by the handicapper.

The best evidence to suggest that the step up in trip will suit was her one-length victory over an extended 1m4f at Newcastle in November. It’s a very stiff finish at the north-east track and if she can win over that trip, 1m6f shouldn’t be a problem.

Find more Horse Racing Tips here at Betfred Insights