Champion Chase hero Il Etait Temps is back at Clonmel this afternoon, with stablemate Dinoblue also in action on the same card. The Big Westerner turned Wednesday’s Listed chase at Wexford into a procession, Proxima Dea landed the Crown Oaks at Flemington overnight, and the Goffs Autumn Sale closed on a high. Here is the racing news today, rounded up for Thursday.
Il Etait Temps returns in the Clonmel Oil Chase
Il Etait Temps makes his seasonal debut in the Grade 2 Clonmel Oil Chase at 3.10pm, and on ratings he has a lot in hand. The Champion Chase and Punchestown Champion Chase winner is rated 181, 15lb clear of the next best in a four-runner field, and Paul Townend takes the ride for Willie Mullins.
His closest rival on the figures is stablemate Kappa Jy Pyke (166), ridden by Danny Mullins, with Margaret Mullins‘ Blaze The Way and the Mrs P Griffin-trained Herja completing the line-up. Unsurprisingly, Il Etait Temps was napped three times in this morning’s GG Hot List.
Dinoblue heads the mares’ chase
Earlier on the Clonmel card, Dinoblue starts her campaign in the Listed T.A. Morris Memorial Mares Chase at 2.35pm. Mullins’ nine-year-old won her last four starts of last season and is rated 175, more than 30lb higher than any of her four rivals. Harry Cobden rides, while Margaret Mullins’ progressive five-year-old A Snow White Park, a winner on her last two starts, is the pick of the opposition.
The Big Westerner strolls home at Wexford
Wednesday’s feature, the Listed Michael Hickey Memorial Chase at Wexford, became a two-horse race after The Enabler and Rocky’s Diamond came out because of the ground, and The Big Westerner made the most of it. Sent off the 1/3 favourite, Henry de Bromhead‘s seven-year-old made all under Darragh O’Keeffe, went clear from two out and won easily by 15 lengths from Mouse Morris’s Bossofthebrownies (7/2).
Proxima Dea lands the Crown Oaks
At Flemington this morning, favourite Proxima Dea won the Group 1 Crown Oaks over 2,500m. The David Payne-trained filly was sent off at 11/10 under Zac Lloyd and beat 40/1 outsider Shameful Impulse by a length and three-quarters, with Chris Waller’s De Armas, the 5/2 second favourite, a neck away in third.
International demand drives Goffs Autumn Sale
The Goffs Autumn Sale finished strongly on Wednesday. Turnover and the average both rose by double figures, the median was up 8% and 85% of the lots offered found a buyer, with international buyers behind much of the growth (Thoroughbred Daily News).
Hong Kong could hand O’Brien a new record
Following yesterday’s news of his entries, Breeders’ Cup Turf winner Benvenuto Cellini is now being talked of as the likely leader of Aidan O’Brien‘s team for the Hong Kong International Races at Sha Tin on 13 December. One more top-level winner there would give O’Brien a new record for Group or Grade 1 winners in a season (RTÉ).
Racing today
There are six British and Irish meetings this afternoon and evening. Jumps racing is at Plumpton, Newbury, Clonmel and Newcastle, and Chelmsford and Southwell race on the all-weather. Away from Clonmel, the most competitive race of the day is probably the 17-runner Pertemps Network Handicap Hurdle, a Pertemps series qualifier run over about three miles at Newbury (2.25pm). The ground there is good to soft, soft in places, and De Bromhead and O’Keeffe team up again with the in-form five-year-old Splendid Fellow.
| Course | Code | First race | Last race |
|---|---|---|---|
| Plumpton | Jumps | 12:33 | 15:55 |
| Newbury | Jumps | 12:42 | 16:05 |
| Clonmel | Jumps | 12:50 | 16:20 |
| Newcastle | Jumps | 12:59 | 15:50 |
| Chelmsford | All-weather | 13:57 | 18:15 |
| Southwell | All-weather | 14:20 | 18:30 |
[View today’s racecards] · [Latest non-runners] · [Today’s results]