John Ingles provides an overview of the key things to note on the racing front on Thursday.
Three points of interest
Happy New Year for Tony Carroll
The all-weather meetings at Chelmsford and Lingfield are the only ones that have survived the weather on Thursday but a trainer who has been in red hot form in what’s been a freezing start to 2025 is Tony Carroll. Not that 2024 was too bad either for his Worcestershire yard as he notched a century of Flat winners – 106 the final score - for the first time last year in a training career dating back to late last century. That’s all the more impressive given that Carroll operates largely with ordinary handicappers – the stable’s best winner in 2024 had a Timeform rating of 91 but the vast majority were rated below 80.
If the stable’s form in the first couple of weeks of 2025 is anything to go by, Carroll is well on the way to another century. Autumn Angel was the stable’s fifth winner already this year at Wolverhampton on Tuesday while another seven runners have been placed.
With runners at both meetings, Carroll has prospects of an across-the-card double on Thursday starting with his best chance at Lingfield which looks to be Init Together in the first division of the mile and a quarter handicap (15:07). The ex-Irish seven-year-old had still been a maiden after numerous attempts on the Flat and over hurdles but made an impressive winning debut for Carroll in a classified stakes at Wolverhampton last week. He looks capable of following up in this low-grade handicap from a BHA mark of just 51.
Pick of the yard’s runners at Chelmsford in the evening is the consistent Time Patrol, another who heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings in the opening apprentice handicap (17:30). A close-up fifth at Lingfield last time, he has a handy draw and ran well on his previous visit to the track.
James Owen pair seeking hat-tricks
James Owen is another in-form trainer with good chances of success at both meetings to add to a couple of winners at Wolverhampton already this week. Owen trained the most prolific Flat winner of 2024, Destinado, for owners Deva Racing, who not only provided his trainer with his very first Flat winner this time last year but went on to win three races by the end of January and eight by the end of the year.
The same owners’ mare Forever Proud is rapidly compiling a similarly prolific record for Owen on the all-weather and can notch another success in the final contest on Lingfield’s card (15:39). As well as being a dual course-and-distance winner earlier in 2024, she also won at Chelmsford and Wolverhampton in December and followed up that latter success at the same course on Tuesday which gives her a good chance of completing a quick hat-trick here under a penalty.
Also bidding for a hat-trick is stablemate Carlton in the 1m6f handicap at Chelmsford (18:30). Adding to his trainer’s impressive record with new recruits, Carlton was a dual course-and-distance winner on his first two starts for the yard before Christmas and is only 2lb higher than when successful under hands and heels last time. He heads the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings by 3lb.
Ralph Beckett with rare class 6 handicap runner
Ralph Beckett is used to operating at a much higher level than low-grade handicaps so his runner The Outlaw catches the eye racing from a BHA mark of just 61 in the mile handicap for three-year-olds at Chelmsford (19:00).
The son of New Bay cost €160,000 as a yearling and is out of a mare who has produced winners with Timeform ratings of 105 and 102 so there’s every reason to think he has scope to prove a fair bit better than his current mark in due course.
The Outlaw earned his lowly mark from some modest runs at around six furlongs last year but he left those efforts behind on his handicap debut at Southwell last week when edged out only late on by more battle-hardened rival Whizz By. That was over seven furlongs and he’s very much of interest at the head of the Timeform weight-adjusted ratings, running off the same mark here and stepping up to a mile.
More from Sporting Life
Safer gambling
We are committed in our support of safer gambling. Recommended bets are advised to over-18s and we strongly encourage readers to wager only what they can afford to lose.
If you are concerned about your gambling, please call the National Gambling Helpline / GamCare on 0808 8020 133.
Further support and information can be found at begambleaware.org and gamblingtherapy.org.
