Horse Racing Tips: Illinois can get the better of Jan Brueghel in their first rematch this season

Thursday’s racing action will be highlighted by day two of Chester’s May Festival where a seven-race card is due to take place. There are also five other meetings scheduled across the UK and Ireland. First off in the afternoon is Huntingdon before they go at Windsor. The evening sees jumps action from Wexford as well as two flat meetings, first on the turf at Redcar and then on the all-weather at Southwell.

Amongst my Thursday Horse Racing Tips is one for trainer George Boughey, who will be looking to get back on track after a long lay off.

15:05 Chester - Illinois @ 9/2

While the jockey bookings suggest that Illinois is the second string in this race for Aidan O’Brien, there is nothing second rate about this two-time Group 2 winner.

Illinois may be yet to land a Group 1, but he has put in some impressive performances at the top level and his form last season suggests that he is more at home over these longer distances than stable rival Jan Brueghel, who seems to dominate over a mile and a half.

However, while Illinois is normally a consistent type, having never finished outside the first three home before his most recent effort at the Curragh, that performance in the Irish St Leger is a slight cause for concern.

Being sent off favourite, the first time cheekpieces appeared to have a detrimental effect and he never really looked settled, finishing a distant seventh.

A line can be put through that effort as it was clearly out of character and the cheekpieces tried have since been left off.

It will be his first run this season so he may not be entirely race ready, but having won this race 12 months ago, he should be the one to beat.

16:10 Chester - Celeborn @ 10/3

Having not seen the track for over a year, Celeborn may have his doubters coming into this, but he has shown his quality in the past and there is a suggestion there will be more to come.

He posted some solid form as a juvenile and then won well on his sole run as a three-year-old at Epsom in April 2025.

On that occasion, he was held up toward the rear and made his run to the line two furlongs from home, pulling away from the field with relative ease to take a comfortable win.

It was an impressive display and one which suggests there will be more to come, while the similarities in the tracks at Epsom and Chester is another positive.

Celeborn will have to overcome a wide draw as well as a long lay off, but his class should tell and this could be his first steps towards becoming a future Group winner.

19:20 Redcar - El Matador @ 7/4

El Matador showed some good form in the early part of last season, posting back-to-back wins at Salisbury and Chepstow.

However, he was not seen for more than two months after the latter of those victories and he struggled to rediscover the same kind of form.

The reason for this may lie in the ground conditions, as early in the season he was running on Good to Firm and Good ground and when he returned later on in the campaign conditions had changed to Good to Soft.

His reappearance this season, and debut on the all-weather, brought about plenty of promise at Lingfield last month.

Sent off the odds-on favourite, he did not make the best of starts as he reared when the gates opened but he ran on well after to finish second.

Ground conditions are likely to be in his favour at Chester and with a run under his belt, he should strip fitter and has a strong chance of returning to the winners’ enclosure.

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