Timeform provides an overview of the key things to note on Thursday.
Alice de Clare is clear on ratings
Timeform's weight-adjusted ratings point to a strong contender in the mile-and-a-quarter handicap for three-year-olds (15:50) at Yarmouth as Alice de Clare heads those figures by 11 lb.
She made no impact in a trio of all-weather novices this year but produced a much-improved display when beaten only a neck on her handicap debut - and first start on turf - at Beverley last week.
Alice de Clare was held up and pushed along three furlongs out, but she made significant headway to hit the front over a furlong out and then gamely stuck to her task when headed inside the final 100 yards by the strongly supported favourite Barbury Boy, who did well to overcome trouble in running and win in a good time for the grade.
It was notable that Alice de Clare pulled six and a half lengths clear of the third, looking a long way ahead of her opening mark, for all she found another big improver too strong. That performance earned Alice de Clare the Horse In Focus Flag from Timeform's reporter, marking her out as one likely to be of firm interest next time, and she holds strong claims off the same mark as at Beverley.
Willow Wood a likely improver on handicap debut
Ammoony is an interesting runner in the mile-and-a-quarter fillies' handicap (16:35) at Lingfield as she starts out from a fair-looking mark - she heads Timeform's weight-adjusted ratings - and also has the 'small p' to show she's expected to improve. However, it's the other runner in the line-up with the 'small p', fellow handicap debutant Willow Wood, who is expected to take the largest step forward.
Willow Wood didn't make a telling impact in three maidens and novices at around a mile as a juvenile, but she did show something to work with, particularly given she's bred to appreciate time and distance.
Willow Wood is by the late Wootton Bassett, who has produced winners over a variety of distances, but she has plenty of stamina on the dam's side of her pedigree. Her dam, Willoughby, was unraced but is a half-sister to the top-class middle-distance performer Nathaniel, while she has already produced a couple of winners in Glenartney and Grimsthorpe Castle who both stayed a mile and three-quarters.
With that pedigree in mind, Willow Wood is likely to leave her two-year-old efforts behind over longer trips this season and she starts off in handicaps with trainer Ed Walker going through a hot spell with similar sorts. This month alone, Walker has already had four winning handicap debutants among his three-year-olds, from only 11 such representatives.
McLaurey should be suited by drop in trip
McLaurey was only seventh when a well-fancied 5/1 second favourite for the Sun Racing Plate at the Cheltenham Festival last month, but he shaped better than his finishing position would suggest over a two-and-a-half-mile trip that probably stretched his stamina, earning the Horse In Focus Flag.
McLaurey was initially waited with but made good progress out wide down the back straight and was in a prominent position upsides the eventual winner, Madara, as they headed down the hill. Turning for home it was clear that Madara was tanking along and going best, but McLaurey was still right in the firing line and looked likely to be on the premises, but he failed to see his race out and weakened up the hill.
That display prompted Timeform's reporter to note that McLaurey 'bagged a top-end handicap at two miles over hurdles and shaped as if he has one in him over fences too'. The two-mile race referred to was a valuable event at the 2025 Dublin Racing Festival that McLaurey landed when a well-backed favourite on his handicap debut, beating Storm Heart who has since won a Grade 3 and finished placed off a much higher mark in this year's BetMGM Cup.
McLaurey faces a suitable test in the extended two-mile handicap chase (16:50) at Punchestown and still has the Timeform 'small p' attached to his rating.
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