15:00 Thurles

Sunday 20 December 2020

All12:3013:0013:3014:0014:3015:0015:30

Horse & Jockey Hotel Rated Novice Hurdle

Off time: 15:01 | Winning time: 6m 27.8s

Balinaboola Steel^p¹⁵

Age: 8| Weight: 11-12| J: B J Cooper| T: J J Hanlon| OR: 125

18/1

Fairly useful hurdler. 4 wins from 10 runs this season. Latest win in hurdle at Limerick in October. Bit below form thirteenth of 20 in handicap hurdle (80/1) at Navan (24.3f, heavy) 15 days ago.

Form: 135110

Flash De Touzaine⁴⁵

Age: 5| Weight: 11-10| J: Sean Flanagan| T: Miss E Doyle| CD

5/1

Fairly useful hurdler. 11/4, didn't need to improve to win 13-runner novice hurdle at this course (22.8f, soft) 45 days ago, cosily. Open to improvement.

Form: R0-3021

Frontal Assault^p1³¹

Age: 5| Weight: 11-8| J: Jack Kennedy| T: G Elliott| OR: 121| BF

2/1

Fairly useful hurdler. 2/1, very good second of 6 in novice hurdle at this course (22.9f, soft) 31 days ago. Cheekpieces on 1st time. Improving all the time recently and makes plenty of appeal.

Form: 235-242

Buck Rogers¹²

Age: 5| Weight: 11-3| J: Brian Hayes| T: M J Bowe| OR: 116

7/1

Fair hurdler. Respectable seventh of 13 in novice hurdle at Punchestown (20f, heavy, 11/1) 12 days ago. Still in good form but looks vulnerable to improvers.

Form: 541417

Allbarone¹⁹

Age: 6| Weight: 11-2| J: Rachael Blackmore| T: H De Bromhead| OR: 115

10/3

8/1, career best when winning 16-runner handicap hurdle at Limerick (24f, heavy) 19 days ago. Might not have finished improving, so enters calculations.

Form: 1/05-421

Born Patriot²⁶

Age: 4| Weight: 11-2| J: K C Sexton| T: Peter Fahey

17/2

Won 13-runner novice hurdle at Punchestown (21.7f, heavy, 80/1) on NH debut 26 days ago. Stable in good form. More to come, so another bold show looks likely.

Form: 1

Ballycastle Girl³⁸

Age: 8| Weight: 11-0| J: E Walsh⁽⁵⁾| T: S Crawley| OR: 111

6/1

Fair hurdler. 16/1, creditable fifth of 10 in handicap hurdle at Clonmel (24f, heavy) 38 days ago. First run for yard after leaving David Peter Dunne. Others make more appeal.

Form: 80-11P5

Cregane Ned^t⁴⁰

Age: 6| Weight: 11-0| J: Gary Noonan⁽⁷⁾| T: P O'Flynn

100/1

Thrice-raced maiden under NH rules. Tongue strap on for 1st time, third of 9 in bumper (11/1) at Fairyhouse (16f, heavy) on bumper debut 40 days ago. Up against it back in this sphere.

Form: 6F-0013

Exit Eleven^t¹⁵

Age: 7| Weight: 11-0| J: D P Holden⁽⁷⁾| T: S G Walsh| OR: 110

33/1

Fair hurdler. Below form seventh of 18 in novice hurdle at Navan (20f, heavy, 50/1) 15 days ago. Others more persuasive.

Form: 437-847

X' Girl¹⁹

Age: 4| Weight: 10-10| J: J M Moore| T: A McCann

250/1

Fair maiden on the Flat. Twice-raced maiden. Unseated rider in novice hurdle (33/1) at Limerick (19f, heavy) 19 days ago. Up in trip. Uphill task.

Form: 7U

Forecasts

Frontal Assault (2/1), Allbarone (10/3), Flash De Touzaine (5/1), Ballycastle Girl (6/1), Buck Rogers (7/1), Born Patriot (17/2), Balinaboola Steel (18/1), Exit Eleven (33/1), Cregane Ned (100/1), X' Girl (250/1)

FLASH DE TOUZAINE bumped into a promising sort on hurdling debut and didn't need to up his game to go one better in a novice at this course last time, having a bit to spare. With more to come, he's narrowly preferred to Frontal Assault and Born Patriot who have potential in their own right.