‘Keep a close eye on this one’ – Willie Mullins sends a runner to Chester on Thursday

Willie Mullins has plundered plenty of Britain’s prize money in recent weeks and he now takes aim at the Flat. He’s sending one runner over to Chester on Thursday so you’re going to want to keep a close eye on this one. The horse in question is a previous course winner and we’ll take a close look at his chances here. Check out our free tips page for daily content across British and Irish racing.

3.05 Chester

Absurde contested the Melbourne Cup back in November and he probably ran better than his fifth-place finish suggests. Held up in the early stages of the race, those hold up tactics might have given him too much to do. It’s also worth noting that he was impeded when just starting to get going.

The son of  Fastnet Rock won a Listed race here last season, bouncing right back after a very underwhelming display in the Group 3 Irish St. Leger Trial at the Curragh before that. He looked a lot sharper and the length-and-a-quarter winning distance doesn’t reflect his dominance.

Mullins’ gelding is set to take on five rivals and Aidan O’Brien’s classy stayer Illinois looks like his biggest rival. Most Ballydoyle representatives tend to badly need their first runs and if that is the case here, Absurde can take full advantage.

One slight concern would be that an extended 1m5f is probably sharp enough for him these days. That being said, his course win only came over one furlong further and he certainly wasn’t lacking a turn of foot that day. Victory could well be on the cards at Chester once again.

15:05

Chester

Absurde

Analysis

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