Andrew Asquith provides an overview of the key things to note on the racing front on Thursday.
Three points of interest
Note Cobden’s record at Wincanton
Harry Cobden has an impressive overall strike rate of 34% at Wincanton, and that figure rises to 38% when riding for Paul Nicholls, while that number then elevates to 46% in races solely over hurdles.
Those are extraordinary stats and Cobden and Nicholls team up together with Irish Hill in the two-and-a-half-mile handicap hurdle (14:50) on Thursday afternoon.
Irish Hill was a progressive handicapper in 2022/23, rated as high as 134 at his peak, but he was winless last season, and the handicapper began to relent.
However, he got back on the up with cheekpieces replacing blinkers at Plumpton earlier this month, displaying a good attitude when tackled in the straight and finding plenty to fend off a much higher rated rival with the pair pulling miles clear of the remainder.
That success came in a deeper handicap than the one he faces now and, raised just 3lb for that success, he remains well treated on the pick of his efforts with cheekpieces retained.
Mullins has good record in Thurles maiden hurdle
Willie Mullins has won both editions of this maiden hurdle at Thurles (15:44) since its inception in 2022, notably with Il Etait Temps, who has since developed into a high-class chaser, winning three Grade 1s last season.
His sole representative in this year’s renewal is Jarrive de Mee, who is the second foal out of a winning hurdler in France.
Jarrive de Mee fetched €80,000 as a three-year-old but went unsold at the Tatts Cheltenham Horses-In-Training and Point-To-Point sale in April earlier this year (asking price £68,000).
Prior to going through the ring he won the second of his two starts in points for Donnchadh Doyle, beating Millforce, who also went on to win in that sphere, and also made a winning start under Rules in a maiden hurdle for Gavin Cromwell.
Jarrive de Mee’s main rival on paper is Jacob’s Ladder, who showed fairly useful form in bumpers, but it would be no surprise were Mullins’ five-year-old has too much for him on their respective hurdling debuts.
Wolverhampton maiden one to keep an eye on
Wolverhampton has seen some above-average newcomers make winning starts at the track in recent years and the first division of the fillies’ maiden (16:40) on Thursday has some stellar pedigrees on show.
The pick of them is the John & Thady Gosden-trained Cape Flora, who cost 260,000 guineas as a yearling, a filly by Kingman out of Andre Fabre’s smart and lightly-raced Waldlied, who won a Group 2 over a mile and a half as a three-year-old.
Interestingly, the dam is closely related to Grand Prix de Saint-Cloud and Prix de l’Arc de Triomphe winner Waldgeist, whose half-brother, Waldkonig, romped to a nine-length victory when making a winning debut over the extended mile at this course for John Gosden in 2019.
Clearly, Cape Flora makes plenty of appeal on paper, and the Gosdens can boast a 33% strike rate at Wolverhampton with two-year-old debutants, so there is plenty to recommend her.
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