'Emmet Mullin's runner looks set to rise here' - Thurles Handicap Chase Tips Thurles’s Thursday card is a card full of fascinating races, with the feature being a Listed Chase contest over 2m6f. Immediately after that contest is the Handicap Chase over the same distance and this is a fiercely competitive renewal that should get the blood pumping early. Emmet Mullin’s runner looks set to rise here A field of 19 will battle it out and the headline pick is Rising Dust, who is trained by the genius Emmet Mullins and is feasibly well handicapped on what is his first start over fences since August 2024. Rising Dust moved to Mullins’ yard after that August showing and he has performed well for the new stable, winning twice and placing once in four starts over the timber. The form of those wins is working out as a couple of horses he comfortably beat have since placed in their next starts. He had fair excuses for his latest effort, where he finished sixth at Clonmel, as he made a bad mistake jumping one and an improvement is expected at Thurles. Rising Dust is well-handicapped for his fifth start over fences, as he comes into this race with a 25lb lower chase mark than his hurdle mark. Granted that he takes to jumping the fences as well as he has over hurdles, he should be a big danger, especially with the in-form Darragh O’Keefe in the saddle. McCann has a dark horse Anthony McCann has an interesting runner in the form of ROCKSTOWN GIRL, who could be worth an each-way play. She failed to make much of an impact in her last two races, finishing fourth in a five-runner field in a Grade 2 contest at Down Royal and then ending up way down in 14th in a competitive race at Cheltenham. It’s notable that connections thought she was good enough to warrant an entry in those two races, which were hot affairs. It was Rockstown Girl’s runner-up effort at Cork three starts prior that likely justified those ambitions, as she was just shy of three lengths behind Gavin Cromwell’s useful gelding Kazakh D'arthel. Rockstown Girl stayed on powerfully to finish second and this extended trip at Thurles should suit nicely.
