William Hill Clonmel 2m H’cap Hurdle NAP and NB for Thursday William Hill Each Way Extra Challenge Series Handicap - 3.09 - Clonmel Thursday sees an intriguing card at Clonmel, with an extremely competitive handicap hurdle over 2m½f as the day's feature race. This contest features two last-time-out winners and a handful of unexposed types who could be anything, so this looks set to be a fascinating betting heat. A field of eight has been declared for Thursday’s race, and our expert has picked out a pair to follow. NAP: Mount Frisco @ SP NB: Free Flowing @ SP Byrnes and Courtney contenders in the mix The majority of the field is made up of unexposed horses. The most striking is one for Charles Byrnes. His runner, Political Science, has only three career starts so far, and makes his handicap debut here. He has finished out of the frame in each of those three starts, but the yard regularly produces winners with those sort of credentials each season. And he does receive weight from all but one of his rivals, so he is definitely one to watch in the betting market. Again, Eamon Courtney's gelding has only eight career starts. He has been making steady improvement of late, placing in his last starts and bids here to break his maiden tag. Mount Frisco should go well on favored ground John Patrick Ryan's runner Mount Frisco is worthy of a second look here after winning comfortably at Gowran Park on his last start. Powering clear after the last fence to score by roughly four lengths. It appears that heavy ground conditions bring out the best in him, as so far in his career he has only won three races and all of them have been on heavy ground. So he is more than comfortable with the expected conditions, which may not suit some of his other unexposed rivals. It's his first start over hurdles since 2024, but that shouldn't be a concern as he won quite comfortably on his penultimate start in this sphere. Kenneally could continue his rapid progress Norman Lee’s gelding Free Flowing is an interesting contender here. He returned from a near two-year break in December to contest a competitive hurdle race won by Grade 1 placed Storm Heart; he never landed a blow there, but now finds himself in much calmer waters. He might be able to land a blow here, as he has shown signs of ability. Three starts ago he beat a well-fancied Willie Mullins-trained Olympic Man. Now he's race fit, a vast improvement may come. The booking of Michael Kenneally is a distinct advantage here, as he is an in-form apprentice with a useful 5lb claim. With all these positives, Norman Lee's gelding looks a genuine threat.
