Horse Racing Tips: Elliott runner can go well at Galway

There are five meetings to go at on Thursday with the highlights being day three of Glorious Goodwood and another great card at Galway.

There's some fascinating action at Goodwood with the Nassau Stakes a highlight, ably supported by the Gordon Stakes and Richmond Stakes, while in Ireland the Galway Hurdle takes centre stage.

14:30 Goodwood - Merchant @ 11/8

The Group 3 Gordon Stakes has long been held as a good stepping stone for Doncaster's St Leger and this looks a cracking renewal with seven due to go to post.

And the one who really stands out is William Haggas' Merchant who is improving at a rate of knots and fancied to take this step up in grade in his stride after an impressive victory in Royal Ascot's King George V Handicap.

That success was gained off an official handicap mark of 90 but there's no doubting this son of Teofilo is destined for much better things.

He had routed his field at York's Dante meeting on his previous start and again caught the eye at Ascot when finishing with a flourish to cut down his rivals late on.

The likes of Sir Dinadan, Windlord and Galveston all bring very useful form to the table but it would come as no surprise for Merchant to complete his hat-trick in style and cement his position as a serious challenger for the final classic of the season in September.

17:30 Goodwood - Sea Force @ 5/1

A cracking Goodwood card closes with an ultra competitive mile handicap for three year olds and William Haggas could again hold sway with his improving colt Sea Force.

This son of Sea The Stars readily got off the mark in a 1m Nottingham maiden in June before advancing his form when an excellent third on his handicap debut at Ascot the following month.

Things didn't go ideally for him either as he was set plenty to do in a steadily-run race but he finished to good effect and there's no doubt he figures ahead of his official mark of 88.

Cheekpieces are also added here and he's expected to take a big step forward and fend off the Gosdens-trained duo of Wicked and Kaleido in what promises to be a cracking contest.

16:30 Galway - Ndaawi @ 5/1

The Galway Hurdle is one of the highlights of this fantastic meeting and Gordon Elliott's five-year-old is taken to go one better than when a fine runner-up in this event 12 months ago.

This son of Cracksman has been seen only twice since then but showed he is a hurdler still on the up when securing a much-improved second in the County Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March.

That form has been very well advertised since and Ndaawi still looks ahead of his mark despite taking a 5lb rise in the weights.

The Wille Mullins-trained sextet, headed by Jalila Moriviere, along with Jesse Evans and Puturhandstogether command plenty of respect but Ndaawi looks the way to go.

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