Thirsk racecourse launches its 2005 season tomorrow with a two-day meeting 150 years on from staging its first meeting on the present Station Road site.
The highlight of tomorrow's card is the £10,000 Cyril Greenland Classified Stakes. The race is named in honour of a man who lives at nearby South Kilvington and who recently retired after officiating and working in various roles on northern racecourses for over 40 years.
Run over five furlongs, this looks a tricky one to solve but there is plenty to like about the chances of Zarzu, trained by Connor Dore and the mount of Robert Havlin.
The six-year-old ran well on all-weather tracks and transferred that form to turf at Musselburgh three weeks ago, chasing home The Lord. A reproduction of that performance tomorrow would make him hard to beat.
Sounds Simla is fancied to land the Carpenters Arms Felixkirk Novice Fillies' Stakes. Ralph Beckett's two-year-old made a winning debut at Warwick last month, winning cosily after showing good speed throughout the race.
With similar ground conditions are likely tomorrow and with that race under her belt Sounds Simla should be even more effective. A follow-up is possible for Seb Sanders' mount.
At Newbury, Baltic King has his first race of the season in the £20,000 Dubai Duty Free Full Of Suprises Handicap over five furlongs.
A stiff course over the minimum trip suits this five-year-old and the progress he made as a sprinter last year puts him within reach of promotion into Pattern-race company this term.
The mount of Steve Drowne, Baltic King would not want too much more rain as he does not like the ground too soft, but he is a very interesting runner and is my Nap selection.
Tomorrow's Tips
Thirsk
2.30 Sounds Simla, 3.05 Vancouver Gold, 3.35 Hazewind, 4.10 Locombe Hill, 4.40 Zarzu, 5.10 Kentucky Express.
Newbury
2.10 Caan, 2.45 Coup d'Etat, 3.15 Baltic King (Nap), 3.45 The Geezer, 4.20 Alumni, 4.50 Art Work, 5.25 Kong
Tomorrow's other meetings are at Ayr, Taunton and Wolverhampton.
Updated: 10:55 Thursday, April 14, 2005
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