Racing on Thursday in the UK & Ireland takes place at Navan, Chelmsford (AW), Bath, Carlisle, Stratford and Newcastle (AW) – with the latter hosting the latest instalment of the 2023 Racing League.

One of our fancies comes in the finale of Newcastle’s Racing League card, where a David O’Meara runner has a great chance of landing the class two handicap contest.

14:55 Chelmsford – Velvet Crush @ 11/8

Velvet Crush blew her chances of success at the starting stalls on her debut at Kempton (7f) earlier this month as she was very slowly out of the gates.

However, she went on to run an excellent race under the circumstances, finishing third of 10 runners after a strong second half of the contest.

John and Thady Gosden’s filly clearly has a lot of ability and, now she has been through that experience of going into the starting stalls, she should be better prepared for this second career appearance.

The three-year-old features on the Betfred Betfinder as one of the Most Napped selections today. She is stepping up in distance and she is the standout runner in this maiden contest on the all-weather at Chelmsford.

15:15 Carlisle – Alaskan Gold @ 8/13

Alaskan Gold is a maiden after two appearances on the track, but on the evidence of what he has produced so far, it won’t be long before he gets off the mark.

Karl Burke’s colt finished third on his debut at Nottingham (6f), while at Glorious Goodwood he also came home in the placings.

The race he was involved in at Goodwood looks like it was a smart maiden. The winner, Mansa Musa, has since finished a close second in a Group Three contest at the Curragh, while the runner-up, Array, went on to prevail at Newmarket.

With the experience he now has on his side and with improvement likely, the son of Kodiac can get his nose in front this time in this novice contest.

20:45 Newcastle – Alligator Alley @ 5/1

David O’Meara’s sprinter Alligator Alley has been running consistently well this summer.

He has hit the frame on his last three outings, including at York (5½f) earlier this month when second of 20 runners in a heritage handicap at the Ebor Meeting.

It was a messy start to the race for the six-year-old at York as his blindfold came off too late. Despite that mishap, he did fantastically well to finish within a neck of the winner in that race.

The handicapper has put him up just 1lb for that near miss on the Knavesmire.

The son of Kingman is now making a return to the all-weather, a surface he knows very well. He completed a hat-trick of wins on the AW last winter, the third of which was from a mark of 100.

If he repeats the form produced at York on his latest outing, he will be hard to beat in this handicap contest.