Gordon Elliott: My thoughts on Shrapnel at Clonmel today

Gordon has just the one runner at Clonmel today

With a busy spell of Irish racing approaching, we get Gordon's views on his sole runner on a good card at Clonmel on Thursday...

14.35 Clonmel - Shrapnel

He can be quite a quirky sort at times, but he's been in good form and has been working nicely since his last run at Punchestown in the middle of January. We are stepping him back up in trip to 2m6f which I think will suit him. He's quite versatile when it comes to the going, and he's been running well on soft ground on his last few outings, winning well at Fairyhouse and Galway towards the backend of last year, so I don't think the forecast heavy ground will be a problem for him.

He does face some stiff competition here though, in the shape of the Willie Mullins trained Inish Island and the JP McManus owned, and Philip Fenton trained Venture Capital. Inish Island finished second to another JP McManus owned runner, At Fishers Cross (Grade 2 winner since) at Cheltenham in December and that form looks very solid indeed. He'll need to improve again if he's to win here, but I'm hopeful that he can and I'm looking forward to him running.