Thursday 26th January 2023
Author: Jordan Yates (EvRacing_)
A warm welcome to this Thursday blog where I’ll be sharing my selections with you for the Thyestes Chase that’s set to take place at 2:50 at Gowran Park. The race is a hugely competitive Grade A handicap that’s contested over a distance of three miles and a furlong, and I’ve tried my hand with two selections in the eighteen-runner affair.
My first selection comes in the form of Gabbys Cross who’s currently a 10/1 chance for the team of Henry De Bromhead and Rachael Blackmore. He looks a progressive sort who was last seen when posting a very promising effort in the Paddy Power Chase at Leopardstown back in December, finishing sixth of twenty-eight. Prior to that he’d finished fifth in the Kerry National at Listowel, which shows he seems to handle a big competitive handicap, and he’s only a pound higher in the weights following those efforts. If turning up in the same form I think he’s got every chance of going well again in this.
The second horse I like comes in the form of Escaria Ten at 7/1 who represents the team of Adrian Heskin and Gordon Elliott. He’s a horse that has some very smart form to his name over both hurdles and fences over long trips, back in 2021 he was placed in the National Hunt Chase at the Cheltenham Festival behind Galvin, and went down by only a nose in the Grade 2 Bobby Jo chase at Fairyhouse this time last year. He signed off his season last term in the Grand National where he finished a respectable ninth place, and made his seasonal reappearance at Thurles in December when finishing second in a listed contest. That was an encouraging start to his campaign, and if he can build on that here I think he can be a big contender. He’s got some of the best form on offer in the race and represents a stable that has dominated big handicaps like this for several years now.