'Exciting Propsect' - Clonmel Oil Chase Tips The Grade 2 Clonmel Oil Chase takes place this Thursday and has thrown up some impressive winners in the past, including Allaho, Fakir d’Oudairies and Douvan to name a few. Last year’s winner Saint Sam continued a trend of domination by Willie Mullins winning the last three renewals and claiming seven victories in the last ten years. The race rarely throws up big runner fields with there being no more than maximum seven runners in the last decade and this year is no exception with only four runners set to take part. Clonmel Chase Tips NAP: Il Était Temps Next Best: Gentleman de Mee VivatBet Betting Offer Mullins domination to continue Willie Mullins will be doubly represented in this contest and the first of his contenders is Il Était Temps, the mount of Paul Townend. The seven-year-old returned to racing at the back end of last season following an injury and did so in style beating Nicky Henderson’s Jonbon in his own back yard at Sandown. Not only did he claim victory that day, he did it in emphatic style winning by 5 ½ lengths following 359 days off the course. Mullins’ second charge in the race is the JP McManus-owned Gentleman de Mee with the owner’s retained jockey Mark Wash taking the reins. The nine-year-old, like his stable companion, also impressed over in Britain towards the back end of last season having secured victory in the Topham at Aintree. While there has been much debate over which trip best suits him, he showed at the end of last year that he stays well and could even want further than the distance he’ll face here. The rest of the field is composed of the 2024 Irish Grand National winner Intense Raffles, who will most likely be on course for another attempt at the Grand National come April in the colours of Simon Munir and Isaac Souede. Finally, Senecia completes the field who claimed victory in the Grade 2 Webster Cup for Vincent Halley last year, beating the short-priced El Fabiolo in the process. While he does have prior experience over this distance, he is more thought of a two-miler nowadays, so it will be interesting to see how he gets on in more of a staying contest. Celebration Chase winner to celebrate once more It’s difficult to look past the short priced favourite Il Était temps in this Grade 2 contest to secure yet another win for champion trainer Mullins in this race. As aforementioned, his previous win in the celebration chase was a stunning performance especially when taking into consideration his lengthy absence off the track. His Grade 1 win that day wasn’t his first either, with the seven-year-old also claiming a Grade 1 as a novice hurdler and three as a novice chaser. His performance in this will provide much speculation among punters to what his next steps are and whether Mullins keeps him at this trip with potentially the RyanAir in mind or revert back to two miles with the Champion chase being the target. However, what is known is that this horse looks to be an exciting prospect and definitely one to follow for the season to come. Gentlemen de Mee to be the best of the rest While Intense Raffles and Senecia have their supporters, it seems that they will have different targets down the line, making this race a good stepping stone for their season. With this in mind, it should be a 1-2 for the Closutton man as Gentleman de Mee can pick up the spoils. As mentioned earlier he won the Topham in good fashion under Walsh and there were some positives to take from his subsequent fourth in the Oaksey Chase last time out. Despite a challenging run in the race at Sandown, he stayed on strongly, suggesting his ability to see out this trip should be more than manageable.
