Jake Price's Wednesday Horse Racing Tips at Listowel & Perth

JET OF STARS 1pt Win @ 15/8

Whilst there are certainly a few horses in this field more experienced than JET OF STARS, you would be very hard pressed to say that any are better prospects for the campaign ahead. I am very much reading it as a positive that Lucinda Russell and Michael Scudamore want to get this exciting young Horse out on the track as quickly as possible, and hopefully he can reward their faith.

This £230,000 purchase earned his price tag with an impressive point-to-point success at Oldtown in February 2025, where he won a 4yo Maiden by four lengths back to Nimba, who has won a Bumper himself since. Back in fourth that day was also Harry Lowes, who has achieved a Hurdles rating of 128 in his short career to date.

JET OF STARS made his debut under rules in a Bumper up at Ayr in March, where he was sent off a very warm order to oblige thanks to his lofty reputation. Having travelled supremely well he went clear of his rivals from over two-furlongs out, and under the guidance of Brian Hughes he recorded an effortless 9.5 length success over a dual previous winner in Popton Point. That Bumper success marks him down as a serious prospect for Novice Hurdles this season, and as such this well bred Son of Jet Away will be popular to get off the mark at the first time of asking in receipt of weight from Chicker and Gambino.

NOWWHATDOYOUTHINK 1pt EW (5 Places) @ 13/2

I wanted to start off my Kerry National Preview with a call back to my coverage of the Galway Plate at the end of July, where I signed off my article with the following:

“in the case of either selection it would not surprise me if the Kerry National also comes up on their agenda, so if either run a big race here without getting their head in front, they would leap to the front of my shortlist for that September Listowel contest.”

Considering the way NOWWHATDOYOUTHINK ran in that Summer highlight I think the above becomes extremely relevant, and with that run under his belt he surely has to have strong claims for the Gordon Elliott team to go a few places better on this occasion.

It is worth starting by stating that eight of the last ten winners of the Kerry National ran at the Galway Festival beforehand, and of which four came from the Galway Plate itself. It is no surprise then to see that the 1-2-4-5 take up a large share of the market, but I think the edge with our selection lies within the fact that Gordon Elliott had only had him for around two months before he made his debut in one of the biggest Handicaps of the season.

His Novice form when trained by previous handler Ray Hackett is there for all to see, finishing second to C’Est Ta Chance (142) in a Grade 3 Novice Chase on Soft ground at Thurles in March before easily landing an open Grade 3 on Yielding ground at Cork in April, and on his final run in the Grade 1 Champion Novice Chase at Punchestown he briefly looked the winner before giving way to Western Fold (156) and Fleur In The Park (153) in the closing stages. As alluded to in my Galway piece, surely there is only better to come now trained at Cullentra House.

I think Galway ultimately taught us that he is a three-miler. During his career best win at Cork, he effortlessly came away from his rivals over a trip of 3m½f, and at Punchestown he didn’t quite see out 3m1f against proper Grade 1 opposition. Down in Ballybrit he travelled very nicely under Jack Kennedy to the home bend however, but when asked for his effort the response was just a bit one paced – with closers Gorgeous Tom and in particular Conyers Hill showing far superior turns of foot. Perhaps if Jack Kennedy had his time again then he would have made a move to kick for home sooner, but it was no slight on him to finish fourth over that 2m6½f trip.

Now stepped back up in distance to three-miles and with a run for the yard under his belt, I am sure we are going to see an even better version of NOWWHATDOYOUTHINK at Listowel – which is of course a nice flat track which he seems to enjoy (twice a winner at Mallow last season). It is also notable that despite a 2lbs rise in the weights to a mark of 144 he will be better off with some key rivals; 6lbs favourable with King

Alexander, and 2lbs better off with Conyers Hill. With trainer Gordon Elliott only sending the one bullet to the race, he surely has confidence that this lad can step forward again.