Thursday Racing Tips: Mahon to show the Way at Thurles

The action is equally split between National Hunt and all-weather racing across the UK and Ireland on Thursday with four meetings scheduled to take place.

Thurles kicks us off in the afternoon and is swiftly followed by Chelmsford and Lingfield. Newcastle’s eight-race card is the evening’s only fixture.

One of our stronger fancies on Thursday is one for Henry de Bromhead who was a little disappointing last time out but should be capable of much better.

15:23 Thurles – Mahon’s Way @ 15/2

Certainly not a cheap purchase, Henry de Bromhead’s Mahon’s Way cost a whopping £360,000 at the sales. A certain amount of expectation comes with that price tag and the six-year-old is yet to live up to that.

That could be about to change here as he has a good opportunity to get his career back on track after a disappointing effort last time out.

There’s plenty to like about his pedigree and that certainly gives an indication of why connections spent big on him. His dam is half-sister to the very high-class Champagne Fever, which has to be a massive positive.

He was an easy winner on debut over hurdles at Nass over 2m3f in November and a few subsequent winners have come out of the race. Too bad to be true at Cork next time, he weakened quickly and never looked dangerous.

It’s unlikely that his performance that day is an accurate reflection of the six-year-old’s ability and the drop back in trip can certainly help. He should be capable of putting in a much better performance here and isn’t one to give up on just yet.

17:30 Newcastle – Smart Vision @ 11/4

Jessica Macey’s Smart Vision could be one to look out for at Newcastle, as the three-year-old attempts to get off the mark at the fourth time of asking.

The son of Due Diligence has shown improvement between each of his three starts to date and further progress is expected once again on handicap debut here.

He ran a cracker to finish fourth in a hot novice race over course and distance on his penultimate start and he was well clear of the next horse that day. A slow start also didn’t help and he could even have finished closer.

Third by a little over a length here over 6f last time out, he was too keen for his own good but still ran a good race nonetheless. His profile suggests he’ll take another step forward here and that’ll give him every chance of earning victory if doing so.

An opening handicap mark of 74 looks pretty reasonable and it’s unlikely that we’ve seen the best of him yet.

18:00 Newcastle – Moon Flight @ 5/1

Newcastle’s feature race is a competitive handicap over 5f and Linda Perratt’s Moon Flight could provide the answer. Still fairly new to the yard, this four-year-old is currently on an upward trajectory.

His first career win came in impressive fashion at Wolverhampton when trained by Sir Mark Prescott and he cruised clear to score by five lengths in novice company, although it should be noted that he didn’t beat much.

Making his handicap debut in a similar race at Wolverhampton in January, he was only just touched off when finishing second. Perratt’s four-year-old filled the runner-up spot again over course and distance next time out.

He got off the mark for this yard when just getting the better of the second here last time out and the handicapper has responded with a 4lb rise. That should be manageable and further improvement may well be on the agenda.