Find out which runners on Thursday caught the eye of the Timeform reporters last time and were awarded the Horse In Focus Flag.

What is a Horse In Focus?

Every performance in Britain and Ireland is closely scrutinised by the expert race readers at Timeform whose tasks include identifying horses that shaped better than the result. Some of these eye-catchers will be awarded the Horse In Focus Flag.

A Horse In Focus comes in many forms, from a promising maiden winner to a veteran handicapper, but the common denominator is the same: the way the horse shaped suggests it’s likely to be something to back next time.

All of the day’s Horses In Focus can be found within this article, which also includes a best bet selected by a member of the Timeform Sporting Life team.

The Timeform Flags also appear on the Racecards + section, available for Sporting Life Plus members, on Sporting Life racecards.

Thursday’s Horses In Focus

For more on each horse, logged-in readers can head to today’s racecards and click the Horse In Focus dropdown

AyrAlfie Boy – 20:00

ChelmsfordAim For The Bull – 20:45

RedcarZappata – 13:45

Creatif – 16:35

Yarmouth The Third Star – 15:15

PunchestownSpinning Web – 15:05

The Goffer – 15:40

Karl des Tourelles – 16:15

Sixandahalf – 16:50

El Cairos – 18:35

Ksar Fatal – 18:35

Thursday’s Best Bet THE GOFFER – 15:40 Punchestown

There’s plenty of dead wood in the La Touche Cup over the banks at Punchestown, with Vanillier and THE GOFFER who filled the frame in the Cross Country at Cheltenham looking the pick of the weights.

Vanillier impressed over the banks here in February and is better off at the weights with The Goffer than at Cheltenham, but he was never going well when tailed off in the Grand National last time.

The Goffer, on the other hand, shaped much better at Aintree in the Topham when doing all his best work late on over the shorter trip to take third on the line. He can end a losing run back stepping back up in distance.

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