Following on from the Christmas and New Year race meetings, normal service resumes at Thurles this Thursday where the first of a planned seven-race card will get under way at 12.45pm.
It could well be a case of the best winebeing left until last for Chargen holds outstanding prospects in the closing Templemore INH Flat Race.
The Tom Mullins-trained Chargen has run three times to date and on his most recent start at Leopardstown on December 27th, he indicated that he should be well up to winning a contest of this calibre by finishing second to Quel Esprit with seven lb clamer Andrew Latta in a two and a half mile bumper. Quel Esprit seems a horse with genuine Cheltenham festival aspirations and therefore Chargen is likely to take all the beating here, even if he is dropping back to two miles.
Chargen in all probability should have most to fear from Ball Of Blue.
The featured event is the Grade 3 Phil Sweeney Memorial Chase over two and a quarter miles and it should pay to row in behind Finger Onthe Pulse.
This Tom Taaffe-trained eight-year-old has developed into a formidable chaser at distances in excess of two miles this season and he made all the running to slam Holly Tree by seven lengths in a Grade 3 two miles one furlong chase at Limerick in October.
It was his next start, even if it was in defeat, that stamped Finger Onthe Pulse as a genuinely improving sort for he finished a most creditable second to Paul Nicholls’ Noland in the Grade 3 Killultagh Properties Ltd Chase at Down Royal in November. It’s safe to say that Finger Onthe Pulse won’t encounter anything of Noland’s calibre here and he’s taken to outpoint Billy Harney’s smart mare Bohemian Lass.
King Of Queens is the clear class act in the Heineken W.T. O’Grady Memorial Hurdle, an event staged in honour of Edward O’Grady’s father Willie who died in 1972.
Tom Mullins’ King Of Queens has already won over this course and two-mile distance for he effortlessly justified favouritism by 10 lengths in a maiden hurdle here on November 27th. King Of Queens then posted a possible career best performance by finishing third, beaten two and a half lengths, behind Lethal Weapon in the Grade 1 Durkan New Homes 3-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle at Leopardstown on December 26th. King Of Queens should get back on the winning trail here by dismissing El Presidente.
Cochise has developed into a most consistent performer for trainer Shane Broderick this winter, winning and then finishing second on his two most recent outings and the son of Flemensfirth should prove marginally superior to My Lord Oscar in the www.thurlesraces.ie Handicap Chase. Wright Flyer should complete a hat-trick for Edward O’Grady by getting the better of recent Limerick victor Well Covered in the I.N.H. Stallion Owners European Breeders Fund Novice Hurdle.
Noel Glynn’s Gonebeyondrecall, a former winner of the Goffs Land Rover bumper at the Punchestown festival, should put his experience to a positive use by excelling from Layde Back in the Cashel Maiden Hurdle whilst Arkmore Radar is likely to dispense with Champion Gold in the Martinstown Opportunity Handicap Hurdle.
