Electric returns at Thurles
There are a couple of interesting runners at Thurles tomorrow as Time Electric and Whatuthink both make their seasonal debuts.
Time Electric, trained by Tom Mullins, leapt to the head of the Champion Bumper betting at the Cheltenham Festival after a hugely impressive eight-length win on his debut at Leopardstown.
Connections decided to skip that race but took him to Navan instead on March 1 where he picked up an injury, forcing him off the track for the rest of the season.
“He got a hairline fracture in a hock so we gave him six weeks off, but he was perfect after,” said Mullins.
“We are hoping for a good run tomorrow. He’s not wound up but he’s well schooled and we’ll be hoping for a nice run anyway, win or lose.
“The ground at Thurles is the best ground in the country so that shouldn’t be a problem and we are hoping for a nice first run.”
Time Electric runs in the Cashel Maiden Hurdle while Whatuthink takes in the Vendee Hurdle, giving away weight all round after his victory in the Future Champions Novice Hurdle last year.
He was slightly disappointing in the Deloitte Novice Hurdle in fifth and was then pulled up at Cheltenham but Adrian Keatley, assistant to trainer Oliver McKiernan, believes there were valid excuses.
“He seems to be in good old order. We gave him lots of time off and we won’t be rushing him this year,” said Keatley.
“We haven’t been hard on him before this and we’ll take our time with him.
“He got a touch of sore shins two-thirds of the way through the season and it came back at him before Cheltenham and the run before.
“So we gave him lots of time off to let him recover and we have a plan that we won’t run him too much this year.
“He’s a good horse and we’ve a couple of good pots in mind for him and if everything goes well we think he is well capable of picking them up.
“There’s a couple of Grade Two two-and-a-half mile races round Navan before Christmas in mind and then maybe the Irish or French Champion Hurdle, but he won’t be running on fast ground in the spring.”
