Weatherbys Punchestown Festival Betting Guide 2024

PUNCHESTOWN FESTIVAL BETTING GUIDE 20 24

TRENDS AND ANALYSIS FOR THE FEATURE RACE ON EACH DAY WRITTEN BY PAUL FERGUSON, WITH A GUEST EDITORIAL FEATURE FROM DONN MCCLEAN PRODUCED BY IN ASSOCIATION WITH

Everything you need for Punchestown including a bit of Luck

SUNDAY 5 DEC 2024 1

Introduction PAUL FERGUSON PUNCHESTOWN FESTIVAL 2024

THE Morgiana Hurdle and the John Durkan Memorial Chase – which, this season, featured both the winner of the Champion Hurdle and Gold Cup from last month’s Cheltenham Festival – are the Grade 1 contests to take place at Punchestown during the first of the campaign, whilst the National Hunt season in Ireland culminates with the five-day Punchestown Festival.

On a course where greats such as Hurricane Fly made his hurdling debut and Faugheen made his first appearance under Rules, the fixture brings together top-class Grade 1 action, competitive handicaps, traditional fayre on the Banks course and has a habit of unearthing future stars in the numerous bumpers which take place during the week.

Ballyburn – this season’s outstanding novice hurdler – was a prime example of this last year, beating Dancing City (dual Grade 1 winner over hurdles) and fellow Cheltenham Festival winner Slade Steel (winner of the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle) in a very strong renewal of the JP & M Doyle Flat Race

Cheltenham Festival with Punchestown in mind, whilst Racing TV’s Donn McClean provides his personal view on the meeting.

The feature race of each day has been dissected from a trends/statistics point of view, in the format of our Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide, which this year celebrated the milestone of a 25th anniversary.

Touching upon those feature contests and both State Man and Fastorslow are expected to attempt to retain their respective Champion Hurdle and Punchestown Gold Cup crowns The former kickstarted an unbeaten (to date) campaign by winning the aforementioned Morgiana Hurdle, whilst Fastorslow had old adversary Galopin des Champs back in third when winning the John Durkan on his reappearance. Things didn’t go to plan at Cheltenham for Martin Brassil’s eight-year-old, who will look to inflict further Punchestown misery on the two-time Gold Cup winner, whilst State Man will bid to add the Punchestown Champion Hurdle to the Irish and Cheltenham equivalents, as he goes in search of a 10th Grade 1 success The likeable chestnut is unbeaten in four starts at the track.

Enjoy this Guide and more importantly, enjoy the action

Be lucky,

The exciting six-year-old – who looks set to bid to complete a Grade 1 hat-trick at this meeting – was one of 17 winners at the fixture for Willie Mullins and his exploits at Punchestown have been highlighted in one of the features that follow Other features include the strength of the British Challenge at this ye

fixture in recent years and horses to note from the fi e Paul.

The Punchestown Festival

By Donn McClean

VIKING FLAGSHIP won the Champion Chase at Punchestown in 1993. It wasn’t the Punchestown Champion Chase then though Not really Not as we understand it now. It was a handicap, and Viking Flagship was 6lb out of it

If you were a student and you didn’t have a clappedout car, or a friend who had a clapped-out car and who could be convinced to go to the races, you had to get the green bus, the 46A, into Dublin city centre and you had to get the red bus from Busáras to Punchestown. You had to sign out for the day too at the UCD Smurfit School back then if you weren’t going to lectures, you had to say where you were going and what you were doing. You could put down "Ilac Library: Research", but, on the first day of the Punchestown Festival, it was unlikely that many people would fully believe you.

The presence of Cheltenham’s Champion Chase runner-up Cyphrate in the BMW Handicap Chase that year, at the top of the weights, 12 stone, meant that six of Cyphrate’s seven rivals were out of the handicap. Viking Flagship made light of the disadvantageous terms though, as the market expected he would

It didn’t look overly promising for favourite backers, mind you, when Ken Morgan on the Jim Dreapertrained Foulksrath Castle headed him at the third last fence, but Viking Flagship wrested the lead back on the run to the final fence and he and Richard Dunwoody went on to win by just over two lengths from Jim Dreaper’s horse, the pair of them clear

Richard Dunwoody rode a treble that day. He won the two-and-a-quarter-mile handicap hurdle on the Nicky Henderson-trained Thinking Twice, and he won the two-mile Champion Novice Hurdle on Bayrouge, who was trained by that season’s champion National Hunt trainer Annemarie O’Brien, whose husband Aidan rode in the bumper that day.

Tony Martin rode a double. William O’Sullivan won the cross-country chase on Heavenly Citizen for his brother Eugene, this was two years after they had teamed up to win the Foxhunter at Cheltenham with Lovely Citizen. Trevor Horgan won the two-and-a-halfmile novice chase on Force Seven for Paddy Mullins, and his son Willie had no winners

The Punchestown Festival was a three-day meeting back then, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. The

banks closed and the Kildare kids had the days off school so that they and their parents and, importantly, their teachers could go to the races. The Punchestown Gold Cup was the Heineken Gold Cup and it was a handicap chase, run on the Wednesday.

The Heineken Gold Cup was won that year by Fissure Seal, who was trained by Henry de Bromhead’s dad Harry and who was ridden by Graham Bradley, and who had, six weeks earlier, won the American Express Gold Card Handicap Hurdle Final at Cheltenham, the modern day Pertemps Final. He was one of six Irishtrained Cheltenham Festival winners that year, more than there had been in a decade, and we had cheered home every single one of them.

You could skip Punchestown on the Wednesday that year and go to your lectures, but it was important that you were back there on the Thursday (Ilac Library: More research) because Viking Flagship and Richard Dunwoody were back too. They added the two-mile Bank of Ireland Novice Chase, the modern day Champion Novice Chase, to their 1993 Punchestown Festival haul.

Remarkably, that was Viking Flagship’s seventh chase that season, his second race in three days and his seventh race in three months And, if he hadn’t fallen at the final fence on his chasing bow at Nottingham less than three months earlier, it would have been his seventh win. He ran four times in February that year, and three times in April And 32 more times in his career

They must have made racehorses out of teak in those days

Moscow Flyer ran 44 times in his career, 10 times at Punchestown and five times at the Punchestown Festival. He won his maiden hurdle there in October 1999, and he went back there the following April, for the Festival, for the Evening Herald (back in the day when the Herald came out in the evening) Champion Novice Hurdle. He was allowed go off at 10/1 that day, on the back of a disappointing run at Fairyhouse nine days earlier, his first defeat over hurdles, and taking on the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle winner Sausalito Bay. But he won easily

Moscow Flyer loved Punchestown. He won the Morgiana Hurdle there the following November and

he won the Craddockstown Novice Chase there the November after that, and he won the Swordlestown Cup, the modern-day Champion Novice Chase, there at the Festival the April after that, six weeks after he had won the Arkle at Cheltenham.

He won the Tied Cottage Chase at Punchestown in February 2003 – the race that was reversed into the Dublin Racing Festival at Leopardstown when that came into being and named the Dublin Chase – which took his Punchestown record to six from six, and he went back there to the Festival that April, where he was sent off an odds-on shot for the BMW Chase.

The mathematicians were nervous though He had that strange pattern to his chasing career then though, remember? Every fourth run?

Before he lined up in the BMW Chase that day, Moscow Flyer’s record over fences read F111F111U111 Continue the sequence The mathematicians had him down for a U and, sure enough, in front at the second last fence, he clouted the obstacle and gave his rider Barry Geraghty no chance.

Jessica Harrington’s horse went back to Punchestown a year later though, having continued his sequence over fences, taken it to F111F111U111U111U1. The mathematicians and the market expected a 1, and that is what they got. He won easily from Rathgar Beau. Moscow Flyer was 11 years old the following year when he lined up in the Champion Chase at Punchestown again We went down to the start because we could That was one of the many things that we loved about Punchestown, the relaxedness of it all, the fact that you could go wherever you wanted to go You could go out to the Big Double for the La Touche Cup, for example, even if you knew that you would do well to be back before the horses left the parade ring for the next

The two-mile start was way handier. It was right beside you, just in front of the stands, in front of the final fence. It was always fascinating at the start, listening to the jockeys before they lined up, what they told each other, what they didn’t tell each other, all the shouts and all the protestations, and the starter’s instructions. Stern. Then, come on then, and whoosh! More shouts as the tape flies.

That was the good about being at the two-mile start, the fact that you were actually at the start. That and the last fence, that you were there when they came around again, one circuit later, down to the last, right beside the final fence, with the shouts and the cries and the sounds of hoof on wood and of body on birch. The bad was that you couldn’t really see the finish.

We saw Moscow Flyer and his old rival Rathgar Beau running away from us that day, over the last and up the run-in away from us to the winning line, and we could hear the crowd and we could hear the tannoy, and we

fully expected that Moscow Flyer would win again. He didn’t though. Rathgar Beau beat him by a short head.

Sprinter Sacre won though. It was great that he did. It was great that he came over to Punchestown at all.

He was nine for nine over fences when he came to Punchestown in 2013 Five for five as a novice, the Arkle winner, the Maghull Chase winner, and four for four in open company, the Tingle Creek winner, the Champion Chase winner It’s not easy to win Grade 1 races at Cheltenham and at Aintree and at Punchestown in the same season, at that stage of an arduous programme like that, at that level, in such a short space of time. It has to take its toll And Sprinter Sacre was not at his brilliant best at Punchestown. But he won and he returned healthy and well, and they were the important aspects of it all.

The crowd appreciated his presence too. It was massive. They applauded the horse as he walked around the parade ring before the race, and they applauded trainer Nicky Henderson for taking him over so that we could get a look at him in the flesh, and they applauded him through the race They cheered when he came back in too, Barry Geraghty on his back. He was a 1/9 shot, you have to think that not many people would have been backing him at that price (if you have the nine, a wise man once asked, do you really need the one?) but they still gave him the reception that he deserved. Good horses get that at Punchestown.

Sizing John was a good horse. He won the Future Champions Novice Hurdle and the Craddockstown Chase for Henry de Bromhead and he won the Kinloch Brae Chase for Jessica Harrington

He didn’t go to Aintree in 2017, but he won the Irish Gold Cup at Leopardstown in February and he won the Cheltenham Gold Cup at Cheltenham in March before he went to Punchestown in April for the Punchestown Gold Cup. Three months, three Gold Cups: no horse had ever before won all three.

And just like Sprinter Sacre hadn’t been at his best at Punchestown in 2013, Sizing John probably wasn’t at his best at Punchestown in 2017 as the rigours of the season probably told

It was some race too, Sizing John and Coneygree and Djakadam, the 2017 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner and the 2015 Cheltenham Gold Cup winner and the 2015 and 2016 Cheltenham Gold Cup runner-up, in a toe-to-toe-to-toe from the top of the home straight. A half a length separated the three of them at the second last fence, and all three were in the air together at the last. Ultimately, it was Sizing John who prevailed. Grit and fortitude and determination to go with his pace and his class and his stamina, and he completed the triumvirate of Gold Cups. What a race

Punchestown brings the curtain down perennially on the National Hunt season, and sometimes on an

era and, in 2018, it brought the curtain down on two of them.

Katie Walsh and Nina Carberry walked the track together early that week, and they half-shared semithoughts If I ride a winner, you never know

Katie rode her winner first, Antey for Willie Mullins in the two-mile novices’ hurdle on the Friday, and promptly announced her retirement from the saddle That was it, we thought, the story of the week, the headlines wrote themselves

Then the following day, Nina won the opening contest, the Dooley Insurance Cross Country Chase, on Josies Orders for Enda Bolger and JP McManus, and followed suit

“I’m going to follow Katie and retire now,” she told RTE’s Tracy Piggott after she pulled up. “It has been a marvellous career, it’s a bit emotional, but I think that I should end it on one of Enda’s around the banks, and for JP.”

It was remarkable that the two glass-ceilingshatterers, mould-breakers, should both retire at the same Punchestown Festival, within 24 hours of each other. And the synergies between the two go way beyond that. Both from racing dynasties, Nina won the Irish Grand National on Organisedconfusion in 2011, the first female rider to win the race in 27 years. Katie won it four years later on Thunder And Roses. And there was that National Hunt Chase finish in 2010, Katie on Poker De Sivola, Nina on Becauseicouldntsee, neither giving an inch And the post-race embraces. Sisters in arms and sisters-in-law

Twelve months later at Punchestown, it was Ruby’s turn The wave as he crossed the winning line in the 2019 Punchestown Gold Cup on Kemboy, two lengths clear of his horse’s stable companion Al Boum Photo, was subtle If you were looking for it though, you would

have noticed it, and now, looking back, you can see it all right. It didn’t take everyone by surprise, but it took most people by surprise.

“You’ll need to get a new rider for Livelovelaugh in the handicap chase!” the 12-time champion told Willie Mullins in the winner’s enclosure It took Willie a moment or two to figure it out, and it took the rest of us a little longer, but gradually the realisation dawned that the curtain had just come down on a truly extraordinary career

It is at the end of Punchestown too that the season’s champions are crowned: champion jockey, champion owner, champion amateur, champion conditional, champion trainer Willie Mullins It has been ever thus

Gordon Elliott ran him close though in 2018 The trainers’ championship thread was a thread that ran through the entire 2017/18 National Hunt season, and all the way through the 2018 Punchestown Festival, almost to the end of the week

Gordon led by over €500,000 going into the week, and the bookmakers made him marginal favourite for the title. And that was the year that Al Boum Photo (trained by Willie Mullins) ran out at the final fence in the Grade 1 Growise Chase on the first day of Punchestown week, which left the way clear for The Storyteller to lead home a Gordon Elliott 1-2-3 and bag a total of €89,000 in prize money, thereby probably effecting a swing of €130,000 between the two trainers It wasn’t to be though Willie Mullins won six of the seven races on the Wednesday, and dominated the rest of the week to bag another trainers’ championship, his 12th in a row and his 13th in total up to that point. There will be stories again this year, that’s for sure, and there will be drama, and there will be top class horses and top class riders and top class competition. Some week in store. Be sure to sign out for all five days

From Cheltenham To Kildare

By Paul Ferguson

18 OF LAST year’s 39 winners at the Punchestown Festival had run at Cheltenham, so form from Prestbury Park has to be taken very seriously Of those 18, however, only seven had won at the Cheltenham Festival, so be sure to look down through the beaten horses Here are a clutch of Irish-trained horses – in chronological running order – who either won or ran well at Cheltenham and could be of interest if heading to County Kildare

DAY ONE

AS ALWAYS, the Cheltenham Festival got underway with the Supreme Novices' Hurdle and Irish-trained horses filled the first five places and eight of the first nine. Slade Steel stayed-on strongly to beat Mystical Power and Firefox. The placed horses have since advertised that form by finishing first and second in the Top Novices' Hurdle

at Aintree, where they pulled 9½ lengths clear of the remainder Henry de Bromhead's winner also held entries at Aintree, but wasn't declared and could instead head to Punchestown, where he finished behind Ballyburn and Dancing City (another Aintree winner) last year His only defeat as a hurdler also came at the hands of Ballyburn and whilst stepping back up to 2m4f would appear to be more suitable at Punchestown, it could be that Slade Steel's connections again look to avoid the winner of the Gallagher Novices' Hurdle as they did at Cheltenham

Gaelic Warrior won the 3m novice hurdle at last year’s meeting and was able to drop back to the minimum trip to win the Arkle at Cheltenham. Reverting to a right-handed track is sure to suit and the Barberstown Castle Novice Chase looks to be his for the taking.

SLADE STEEL (FAR SIDE) WINS THE SUPREME

His stable-mates State Man and Lossiemouth would also look to be difficult to oppose, in the Punchestown Champion Hurdle and the Mares Champion Hurdle, respectively In an ideal world, the pair would clash, but it is hard to imagine that either Willie Mullins or Paul Townend would vote for that scenario, with both sure to be sent off at very short odds in their respective races. Why have one winner when you can have two, eh? Personally, seeing Lossiemouth drop in distance and really be tested over the minimum trip could light up the meeting

DAY TWO

WILLIE MULLINS landed the first two races on the second day of the Cheltenham Festival, with both Ballyburn (Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle) and Fact To File (Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase) living up to the pre-Festival hype The former ran out a thoroughly convincing 13-length winner of the opening race, despite racing keenly and carrying his head distinctively low. In truth, the race wasn’t particularly strong and Willie Mullins trained the first five home, with only two horses taking on the Closutton masses. Handed an I.H.R.B. Rating of 163 after this, Ballyburn will be hugely difficult to beat in Alanna Homes Champion Novice Hurdle, a race which Impaire et Passe won last year on the back of having won the same Cheltenham contest The placed horses, Jimmy du Seuil and Ile Atlantique, didn't exactly advertise the form behind Brighterdaysahead at Aintree, but fourth or fifth, Mercurey and Predators Gold, could be of interest if aimed at the Louis Fitzgerald Hurdle A conditions race for horses who have won no more than once as a

hurdler, both horses won their respective maiden hurdle at Punchestown, whilst the latter also won the Goffs Defender Bumper at this fixture a year ago. Twice a runner-up in Grade 1 company, he was a shade disappointing at Cheltenham, but could easily bounce back if eased in class somewhat

Fact To File beat Monty's Star in the Brown Advisory and it was expected that he would bid to follow up in the Dooley Insurance Champion Novice Steeplechase, but he hasn't been handed an entry. Runner-up Monty's Star has and having won his beginners chase at this track on New Year's Eve, he would look to hold sound claims of going one place better and gaining Grade 1 honours. With the JP McManus-owned pairing of Corbetts Cross and Inothewayurthinkin having been in action at Aintree, this race could cut up a bit.

With El Fabiolo pulled-up after a serious error at the fifth fence, the door was left ajar for Captain Guinness to finally land a Grade 1 – at the 14th attempt – in the feature on day two, the Queen Mother Champion Chase. Despite having won on chasing debut at the track, Captain Guinness is 0-3 at the Punchestown Festival and as he did last year, heading to Sandown for the Celebration Chase is another late-April option for Henry de Bromhead’s nine-year-old. As for El Fabiolo, his jumping wasn’t fluent prior to his race-ending mistake and it has to be hoped that he learns from this Six-from-six over fences prior to the Queen Mother, he has won at each of the past two Punchestown Festivals and it would be no surprise to see him bounce back and win the feature race on day one.

Whilst it probably didn’t make amends for El Fabiolo’s disappointment, Jasmin de Vaux did r s o s

MONTY'S

provide the same connections with a victory on the card, when landing the Weatherbys Champion Bumper. Kept wide and held-up by Patrick Mullins, he finished well to fend off the Gordon Elliott-trained duo of Romeo Coolio and the more-experienced Jalon d’Oudairies The winner will, presumably, bid to complete the Grade 1 bumper double – as A Dream To Share did in 2023 –but the sharper test might well suit Romeo Coolio, who travelled really well and looks to be a highclass long-term prospect

DAY THREE

THE STAYERS’ HURDLE was won by Teahupoo, who had favourable conditions and arrived fresh at Cheltenham, off the track since beating Impaire et Passe in the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle 102 days earlier (3rd December). Third in last year’s Stayers’ he then finished only fourth in the Champion Stayers Hurdle at Punchestown, which could once again come soon enough for him. There is six weeks between both races (42 days) and the only time that he has won on the back of a shorter break than 52 days (unbeaten in runs after a 52+ day break) was as a juvenile, when he won at Fairyhouse on

16th January (2021) before returning to the same track some 42 days (co-incidentally) later. Almost as important to Gordon Elliott’s seven-year-old is soft – or even worse – ground Conditions would certainly have been quicker than ideal for him at this meeting 12 months ago and he is 0-2 at the track/meeting, having finished sixth of six in the 2022 Champion Hurdle, beaten some 24½ lengths behind Honeysuckle There are certainly enough doubts surrounding him, before you realise that Stayers’ Hurdle winners are 0-6 in the Punchestown equivalent this century (see the full race preview for further details in that regard).

The same connections also have Irish Point engaged here, although he also holds an entry in the Champion Hurdle on day four He could easily have featured on Day One of this feature (but links in well here), having run a sound race behind State Man in the Champion Hurdle and having skipped possible engagements in either the Aintree or Liverpool Hurdle, it would seem likely that he will run at this fixture. On better ground (if the rain ever stops) and on this sharper track, stepping back up to 3m would seem highly possible and he would be an intriguing runner for Gordon Elliott and Robcour.

IRISH POINT (RIGHT) CHASES HOME STATE MAN AT CHELTENHAM

DAY FOUR

ABSURDE won the County Hurdle for Willie Mullins – under a beautifully-executed Paul Townend ride – and having been given an I.H.R.B Rating of 144, he could revert back to novice company to contest the Grade 1 over the minimum trip A high-class Flat performer (won the Ebor last year), he should really appreciate a sounder surface and although his jumping still needs to improve, the six-yearold clearly has a big engine. The New course at Cheltenham probably helped in the jumping department, given that there is much less emphasis on hurdling in the latter part of the race

The Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle turned into a real test of stamina and was won by Stellar Story, who beat The Jukebox Man by a head Gordon Elliott’s experienced seven-year-old had earlier finished fourth behind Dancing City at the Dublin Racing Festival and third behind Slade Steel (Supreme winner) in the Navan Novice Hurdle, in which Better Days Ahead (Martin Pipe winner) finished fourth He looks an out-and-out stayer, so unless it came up testing, I wouldn’t expect him to run in the Channor Group Novice Hurdle. If he does line up, I would consider taking him on around a much sharper track, although it was pleasing to see both Dancing City and The Jukebox Man frank the

Albert Bartlett form by finishing first and second in the Sefton at Aintree.

Galopin des Champs ran out a convincing winner of the Gold Cup and will, no doubt, be a short price to follow-up on day two of this fixture, if allowed to take his chance. He showed as a novice hurdler that he can win at Punchestown after being successful at Cheltenham – and he also won at Fairyhouse as a novice chaser, on the back of falling with the Turners at his mercy – but, it has to be remembered that he was beaten in the Punchestown Gold Cup last year and that would be a worry for the eight-year-old, who has had a relatively busy campaign this term Beaten here on his return in the John Durkan, he then brilliantly won the Savills Chase over Christmas and teed up his Gold Cup defence by winning the Irish equivalent at the Dublin Racing Festival Whilst he is undoubtedly the best horse on show, he is probably one to watch rather than back, at this stage of the season If he is below his best, it will likely be last year’s winner Fastorslow who capitalises, provided that he has come out of his Cheltenham tumble unscathed. He un-seated J J Slevin towards the end of the back straight, but has enjoyed a lighter campaign and would appreciate drying ground more than Galopin des Champs. He boasts form figures of 221 at

GALOPIN DES CHAMPS WINS HIS SECOND GOLD CUP

the past three Punchestown Festivals and also won the aforementioned John Durkan on his return. If he is ever going to lower the colours of the dual Gold Cup winner again, this could be the day.

Runner-up at Cheltenham (as he was in 2023), Its On The Line went on to win the Foxhunters' at Aintree and will reportedly be considered for the Champion Hunter Chase, a race which he won last year Given the testing ground at both Cheltenham and Aintree, it would take a huge effort for a horse to take in all three spring festivals this year, but Emmet Mullins' seven-year-old has been most consistent this season and was given a sublime ride by Derek O'Connor to win at Aintree. A strong stayer, he did run in all three races last year, although he got no further than the 10th fence on his first taste of the Grand National course.

McManus also saw his Dinoblue beaten as favourite on the final day of the Cheltenham Festival and she will have options at Punchestown, with both the Champion Chase and Francis Flood Mares Chase races in which she could run. Coming back in distance might be the more sensible option and should El Fabiolo miss the race for some reason, she would likely prove an able deputy for the Willie Mullins stable. Last year’s Francis Flood was won

by McManus’ novice Impervious – who had won the Mares’ Chase at Cheltenham beforehand – and Dinoblue was a winner at this meeting last year, when successful in the 2m handicap chase, from the lofty mark of 147. McManus did, of course, win the Mares’ Chase this year, too, although Limerick Lace took her chance in the Grand National at Aintree, rather than waiting for Punchestown.

And, four Irish-trained novices filled the placings in the concluding race of the week, the Martin Pipe Conditional Jockeys’ Handicap Hurdle The aforementioned Better Days Ahead stayed-on best to beat another McManus-owned favourite, Waterford Whispers, and the winner could easily step back up in class to contest the Channor Group Novice Hurdle over 3m Soft ground would enhance the chance of his participation, whilst Waterford Whispers remains on a fair mark (revised I.H.R.B Rating 135) and has plenty more to offer in races over an intermediate trip Better ground is an unknown, but he travelled powerfully for a long way at Cheltenham and once he learns to relax a little more, there could be a big prize in him, be it this season or next. The valuable 2m4f handicap hurdle – on the final day of the meeting – would be an option for the Henry de Bromhead-trained six-year-old.

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Another Mullins Domination?

By Paul Ferguson

HAVING surpassed the 100 winner mark at the meeting, with his nine winners during another memorable week, the Cheltenham Festival was once again dominated by Willie Mullins. His nine winners at the two-day Dublin Racing Festival – where he won all eight Grade 1s – was further evidence of his power and for several years now, the Closutton team have bossed matters at the Punchestown Festival.

In 2023, Mullins saddled three or four winners on each of the five days of the fixture, resulting in a total of 17 victories, with nine of those wins gained in Grade 1 company. He has twice topped that total, however, with his 18 wins in 2018 also including nine Grade 1s and he again landed nine top-level contests when recording a record 19 wins in 2021, when he enjoyed five-timers on days one and three.

The most winners that Mullins has had on any one individual day came on day two of 2018 (Wednesday 28th April 2018) when Pravalaguna, Next Destination, Bellshill, Tornado Flyer, Patricks Park and Colreevy completed a magnificent six-timer

Staggeringly, the last time that Mullins endured a blank day at the Punchestown Festival came on day three in 2014 (Thursday 1st May 2014) and before that, it happened on the final day of the 2011 fixture.

In the past 10 Punchestown Festivals – going back to 2013, with there being no meeting in 2020, of course – Mullins has enjoyed the following number of winners (with Grade 1 wins at those meeting highlighted in brackets), in chronological order: 13 (7), 9 (6), 16 (10), 11 (5), 9 (5), 18 (9), 11 (6), 19 (9), 13 (9) and 17 (9).

The feature race of each day is covered in detail in the following pages and Mullins’ record in said races is covered in great detail on those pages But, what about other races at the fixture in which he boasts a good record:

NOVICE HURDLES

ALWAYS well-represented in this division, Mullins saddled the first and second in last year’s KPMG Champion Novice Hurdle over 2m on the opening day of the fixture – with Facile Vega beating Il Etait Temps – and he has won that Grade 1 contest in seven of the past nine renewals Previously sponsored by the Evening Herald newspaper, it had earlier been won by Mullins-trained runners in 2009 and 2010, with Hurricane Fly the first successful Faugheen and Douvan were another pair of top-class winners of the race for the stable.

The similarly named Alanna Homes Champion Novice Hurdle – staged over 2m3½f on day four – has been won on 12 occasions by Mullins, with Davenport Milenium, Nobody Told Me and Sadlers Wings winning successive renewals between 2002 and 2004 Vautour (2014) and Nichols Canyon (2015) were another pair of high-class winners of the race for the trainer, who has won the past three renewals with Gaillard du Mesnil, State Man and Impaire et Passe. With seven winners in the past 10 renewals, he is clearly the man to follow in this race, too, and it will be interesting to see where he opts to run impressive Gallagher Novices’ Hurdle winner Ballyburn, as Mullins isn’t averse to dropping horses back in trip at this meeting I suspect that he will be aimed at this race, however, and he is sure to be hard to beat if that is the case

This year’s Arkle winner Gaelic Warrior provided Mullins with a sixth win in the past eight renewals of the Grade 1 Channor Group Novice Hurdle and a third successive win in the 3m race, following on from subsequent dual Gold Cup winner Galopin des Champs and The Nice Guy, who we sadly haven’t seen since. Given that he saddled a quintet in last month’s Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham – in which Dancing City, Spread Boss Ted and Lecky Watson fared best (all finished close together, with the other pair being pulled-up) – he is likely to be well-represented, numerically

As well as the Alanna Homes, there is a non-Graded 2m novice hurdle on the penultimate day of the meeting, a race in which Sa Majeste was a disappointing beaten-favourite for team Mullins in 2023 Mullins was, however, responsible for seven of the previous nine winners of that contest and those winners included subsequent Arkle winners Un de Sceaux and El Fabiolo.

NOVICE CHASES

WHILST looking at the fourth day of the meeting and before attention turns to the Grade 1 novice chases at the fixture, Mullins’ record in the EMS Copiers Novice Handicap Chase is a very strong one A race which he targets with intent (saddled 26 runners in the past eight renewals), Mullins has won the Grade A handicap on seven occasions during those past eight renewals, with only the Jessica Harrington-trained Woodland Opera preventing a clean-sweep during this period (he saddled the runner-up that year, incidentally, with Arbre de Vie beaten less than a length). Mullins isn’t afraid of running a good horse in this race either, with Kemboy, Real Steel, Asterion Forlonge and Kilcruit all successful under either top-weight or joint top-weight, with the enigmatic grey Aste-

rion Forlonge winning from the highest official rating (152). Respect the class angle from the Mullins stable in this event.

Of the Grade 1 novice chases at the meeting, it is the 2m Barberstown Castle Novice Chase –held on day three of the meeting – in which Mullins boasts the best record In fact, his recent record in the race is outstanding, with him having won nine of the past 10 renewals, including with El Fabiolo last year Like the 2023 winner, Un de Sceaux, Douvan and Footpad all followed up success in the Arkle at Cheltenham and Gaelic Warrior is likely to bid to do the same. Eight of those nine winners were sent off favourite (six of them at odds-on) and these include Energumene, who had been forced to miss the Arkle at Cheltenham, before putting up a stunning performance in this race three years ago.

NATIONAL HUNT FLAT RACES

THE aforementioned Ballyburn won the JP & M Doyle Flat Race on day three last year and became the fifth Mullins-trained winner of the race in the past 10 renewals. Yorkhill also won that race before going on to win the Baring Bingham at Cheltenham 11 months later (now sponsored by Gallagher, of course), whilst Mullins won the Grade 1 Champion Bumper seven times in eight renewals between 2014 and 2022 Interestingly and perhaps a little surprisingly, only one of those seven (Facile Vega in 2022) was sent off favourite, in a race in which Mullins is often well-represented. It could be that Jasmin de Vaux bids to complete the Cheltenham-Punchestown double, something which was achieved by the John Kiely-trained A Dream To Share last year, with the Champion Bumper winner beating the Mullins-trained Tullyhill by 3¾ lengths. Colreevy was successful for the stable in 2019, having won the Grade 3 Weatherbys General Bank Stud Book Irish EBF Mares Flat Race 12 months earlier Registered as the Weatherbys Ireland EBF Mares Bumper – and also known as the Liss A Paoraigh EBF Bumper – it was first run in 2016, when it held Listed status, but it was upgraded the following year Of the seven renewals to date, Mullins has won the contest four times, with three of his winners having run in the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham (all three finished in sixth or seventh place). Junta Marvel, who was a non-runner in last month’s Cheltenham race, won last year’s race for Mullins, whilst Grade 2 (Dublin Racing Festival) winner Fleur Au Fusil finished seventh in the Champion Bumper and could be aimed at this Maughreen would be another likely candidate for the race, having been forced to miss

Cheltenham. She was a winner at Punchestown on her racecourse debut and would be an intriguing runner for the Closutton Racing Club.

OTHER RACES

MULLINS’ dominance in the Champion Four Year Old Hurdle is documented elsewhere in the Guide, whilst the other Grade 1 on the final day is the Coolmoresponsored Mares Champion Hurdle, another race that he has won eight times in the past 10 renewals Echoes In Rain was successful for the stable in 2023, whilst both Annie Power and Benie des Dieux won the race twice. Staged over 2m3f and first run in 2004, it was a Grade 3 contest between 2004 and 2012, when Tarla (2010) – the sole four-yearold winner of the race – was the only winner for Mullins Since the race was handed Grade 1 status, Mullins has been in charge, however, and again, he is happy to target the race in large numbers, saddling

29 runners during the past 10 renewals, with 11 of those runners coming in the past three renewals. Impressive Cheltenham winner Lossiemouth looks to be an obvious contender to take the prize this year

Grangeclare West won the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel Hurdle for Mullins last year, a race which he has won four times in the past six renewals Staged over an extended 2m3f and taking place on day two of the meeting, it is a conditions race for horses who have won no more than once over hurdles, so it is a possible option for the likes of Jimmy du Seuil (although he has since run at Aintree), Mercurey and Predators Gold, who all chased home stable-mate Ballyburn at the Cheltenham Festival

It seems inevitable that Mullins will once again be the leading trainer at this year’s Punchestown Festival, so a more pertinent question could be whether or not he can hit the 20-winner mark during the week for the first time.

The British Challenge Which British Trainers Target The Meeting?

By Paul Ferguson

WHILST it isn’t as potent as the Irish challenge which heads over to Cheltenham (*could easily be replaced with ‘takes over Cheltenham’), British-trained horses have performed well when travelling over to Punchestown in recent years The records of both Paul Nicholls and Nicky Henderson in the Champion Chase and Nicholls in the Punchestown Gold Cup and Henderson in the Champion Four Year Old Hurdle have been highlighted in more detail on the specific trends pages of each race, whilst in this particular feature, I take an in-depth look at the results of British-trained horses during the past 10 meetings (going back to 2013, with no fixture in 2020).

Nicholls’ two winners during those past 10 years came in 2021, when Clan des Obeaux won the Punchestown Gold Cup – a race that he had won back in 2007 and 2008 with Neptune Collonges –and Bob And Co in the Champion Hunters Chase, a race which was won in 2018 and 2019 by the lateRose Loxton, who sadly passed away at the age of 59, the following year In all, Nicholls has enjoyed nine winners from 27 runners at Punchestown, so one in three have proven to be successful

Likewise, Henderson boasts a strong strike-rate at the track. Without a runner at the meeting last year, his last winner was Marie’s Rock in the 2022 Mares’ Champion Hurdle – in which he also saddled the third, beaten favourite Epatante – and overall, he has saddled 25 winners from 170 runners at the track. Going back to 1999, Henderson saddled a brace of four-year-old winners at the meeting, with Katarino backing up his Triumph success in the Grade 1, whilst subsequent Champion Hurdle third Blue Royal was also successful for the Lambourn trainer

More recently, star names such as Sprinter Sacre and Buveur d’Air have won Grade 1s at the meeting for the Seven Barrows team and during those past 10 fixtures, Henderson has saddled nine winners in all, with Beat That (Channor Group Novice Hurdle, formerly the 'Irish Mirror') and Fusil Raffles (Champion Four Year Old Hurdle) also successful at the top level. Cool Macavity, Cup Final and O O Seven were handicap winners, whilst Snake Eyes won the non-Graded 2m novice hurdle in 2015. 2019 was his best year numerically, when Henderson was successful with three of his six runners at the meeting

In total during the past 10 Punchestown Festivals, British-trained horses have won 39 races, of which 14 were Grade 1 contests. The Liquidator won the Grade 1 Champion Bumper for David Pipe in 2013 – partnered by now leading broadcaster Jane Mangan – and another four horses have won bumpers (non-Graded) since, those being Fletchers Flyer (Harry Fry), Champers On Ice (David Pipe), No Comment (Philip Hobbs) and Dead Right (Neil Mulholland).

The majority of winners during this period, however, were gained in handicaps and judged on recent results at the Cheltenham Festival, perhaps one or two British trainers will consider taking the Irish on their back yard, in such events.

The aforementioned Fletchers Flyer returned to win a 3m6f handicap chase, two years after his bumper success and Harry Fry also saddled Minella Awards – in the same Masterson Holdings silks – to win a 3m handicap hurdle in 2017, the same year in which Unowhatimeanharry won the first of his two Champion Stayers Hurdle crowns for the same stable. Fry’s latest winner was another handicap success story – with Pure Bliss victorious in a mares’ handicap hurdle in 2021 – and overall, he has saddled six winners from 27 runners (22 % strike-rate) at the track. He went close with Gin Coco in 2022, too, beaten just a length in a 25-runner handicap hurdle

Jane Mangan carried the pale silks of owner Roger Brookhouse when winning the Grade 1 bumper some 11 years ago, whilst the same owner’s Chartreux was a winner for Tom George the following year George went on to saddle God’s Own to win at the meeting in 2014 (Grade 1 novice chase) and 2016 (Champion Chase) and himself boasts a record of three winners from 17 runners at the track (18%).

Interestingly, 10 of the 39 British-trained winners during this period carried the green and gold hooped silks of leading owner, JP McManus. His three most recent British-trained winners all came in handicaps, with both Musical Slave (2019) and Camprond (2022) successful in handicap hurdles for trainer Philip Hobbs, who now, of course, shares the license with former assistant, Johnson White. On his own, Hobbs boasted an overall record at Punchestown of 14 winners from 68 runners (21%), with earlier victo-

ries including the Gold Cup success of Planet Of Sound in 2010, whilst Snap Tie won the same 2m4f handicap hurdle as Camprond, some 10 years earlier. It will be interesting to see if Hobbs and White look to send any handicappers over this year

McManus’ silks were also carried to success by Sully d’Oc AA in 2021, who won a 2m handicap chase for Anthony Honeyball and then 3lbs-claimer, Simon Torrens. Honeyball was 1-3 at the meeting in 2021, 1-2 in 2022 and 1-3 again last year, successful in a handicap at each of the past three meetings Lilith won a mares’ handicap chase two years ago, before finishing third in the same race last year, whilst it was Kilbeg King who landed the spoils for the Dorsetbased trainer in 2023, successful in the 3m handicap hurdle under Aidan Coleman With a record of three winners from eight runners (38%) during the past three years, Honeyball is very much a man to take very seriously, should he send runners over again this year

Colin Tizzard is another West Country trainer to have enjoyed success at Punchestown, saddling Fox Norton (Champion Chase), Sizing Granite and Sizing Codelco (both handicap winners) to victory during

a memorable 2017 Festival, when his seven runners also included the short-head second of Finian’s Oscar in the Grade 1 novice hurdle over 2m4f. Two of his other three runners finished second or third that year and he would return to land that Grade 1 novice hurdle two years later with Reserve Tank The Tizzard yard is now headed-up by Colin’s son Joe and the stable hasn’t had a runner since the 2019 Punchestown Festival

The other British trainers to have enjoyed Punchestown success during the past 10 fixtures are Richard Lee (Grey Gold, 2013), Ben Case (Deep Trouble, 2014), Warren Greatrex (Champion Stayers Hurdle with One Track Mind in 2016) and Rebecca Curtis (Irish Cavalier, also in 2016). Kerry Lee, of course, now runs operations at the Herefordshire base of her father Richard and although she has yet to saddle a runner at Punchestown, she has had two winners from just three runners at Fairyhouse, with Kylemore Lough winning a Grade 1 novice chase at the Easter fixture in 2016 and former stable-star Top Gamble won a Grade 2 at the same meeting Any runners from her stable would, therefore, warrant consideration.

ANTHONY HONEYBALL

Keepin’It Fresh For Punchestown

By Paul Ferguson

AS TOUCHED upon in an earlier feature, 18 of the 39 winners from last year had run at the Cheltenham Festival, which means that 21 winners avoided a trip to Prestbury Park and were perhaps, first and foremost, aimed at Punchestown.

The Grade 1 Champion Bumper often sees the leading protagonists from the equivalent Cheltenham race lock horns once again, but one horse who missed that race was William Munny, who is a possible runner for Barry Connell On debut, the six-year-old beat C’est Ta Chance – who went on to finish just 13th in the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham – but appeared to take a significant step forward, when running out a thoroughly impressive winner at Naas, where he travelled with ease and strode out in fine style.

Immediately after the race, Connell suggested that he would head to Punchestown for the Champion Bumper and whilst it sounded as though he might instead be given a lengthy break ahead of returning in a maiden hurdle in a subsequent interview, the son of Westerner should be taken seriously if lining up against the likes of Jasmin de Vaux

Fourth at this meeting last year, Goldinthemountains is another bumper horse to consider, as Punchestown was pinpointed as his main spring target following a victory at Leopardstown’s Christmas fixture His defeat of Mywayofthinkin (ran well again in defeat since) and Cantico (won next time, before disappointing in the Champion Bumper) reads quite well, whilst the seventh home – the Gavin Cromwell-trained His Nibs – finished a similar distance behind Champion Bumper winner Jasmin de Vaux next time. Martin Brassil’s fiveyear-old is one to note in the winners’ bumper at the meeting.

Emmet Mullins suggested that his Navan winner Harbour Highway could also be considered for both the winners’ bumper and the Grade 1 at this fixture. The son of Youmzain, who had won his sole start in a Point-to-Point for Mick Goff, stayed on well to fend off the aforementioned Mywayofthinkin, with Masterboy Davis (earlier beaten by Sounds Victori-

ous, who then finished 4th in the Champion Bumper) back in third. It appeared a good bumper on paper and the five-year-old - who has since been bought by JP McManus - looks to be another highly-promising youngster He also showed, when winning his Point, that he can handle a sounder surface.

Another who should be noted if heading to the meeting is Willie Mullins’ Port Joulain, who had also won his only start in a Point, before impressing on debut under Rules. Sporting the familiar silks of Susannah Ricci, the son of Cokoriko travelled supremely well into the home straight at Gowran Park, before brushing aside Good N’Kind, with His Nibs (form behind Goldinthemountains) a further 19 lengths away in third. The 2m2f Point-to-Point bumper has been won by some high-class youngsters in recent years, with Yorkhill successful in 2015 before going on to win at Punchestown, whilst last year’s winner Tullyhill finished runner-up in the Grade 1 on the back of his impressive 3¼-length success I would be surprised if Port Joulain didn’t form part of the Mullins squad for Punchestown on the back of this

His stable-mate Maughreen was forced to miss the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham, but there is a chance that she could be back in time for Punchestown and if she is, the daughter of Walk In The Park would look to be an obvious contender for the Weatherbys-sponsored mares’ only event. A winner at this course in mid-January, she is a full-sister to the Tom Lacey-trained Blow Your Wad (now rated 145, following his win in the Grade 2 Pendil Novices’ Chase at Kempton during February) and beat 11 rivals with consummate ease. Whilst it didn’t appear to be an overly strong race, the third has since won over hurdles and Maughreen looked to be in a completely different league to the opposition. If she turns up in the Grade 3 which concludes day two of the meeting, she is likely to take plenty of beating.

Mullins-trained novice hurdlers who skipped Cheltenham include another debutant course winner, Billericay Dickie The New Bay five-year-old was a winner on the Flat in France and held entries

in both the Supreme and Gallagher until the five-day stage. Absent since making a successful start over hurdles in late-January, the ground was expected to be too testing for him on that occasion, so he could easily improve for meeting better ground He was also entered at Aintree (Mersey Novices' Hurdle over 2m4f) and having skipped the Grand National day Grade 1, he could be bound for Punchestown, where he would have plenty of options

Jit Langy is another Mullins-trained novice hurdler, who could be seen in action over the minimum trip A winner on his Irish debut at Tipperary last May, his run behind Ballyburn at the Dublin Racing Festival wasn’t without promise and that form worked out extremely well at the Cheltenham Festival, with three of the four horses who finished ahead of him successful Slade Steel and Absurde further advertised that Grade 1 form and having held an entry in handicap company at

Fairyhouse’s Easter fixture, perhaps that is a route which Mullins will look to explore at Punchestown.

Jit Langy carries the silks of JP McManus, as does Impose Toi, who boasts some really strong form A winner at Cheltenham in November, Nicky Henderson’s six-year-old then went down a neck to Champion Hurdle third Luccia, before finishing third in the Lanzarote Hurdle at Kempton, form which has worked out extremely well since. He didn’t quite see out the 2m5f trip on that occasion, so I had expected him to drop in distance for the County Hurdle It is likely that he wasn’t declared due to the wellbeing of the Henderson stable during the Festival and also that he appears to need a sounder surface. On this sharper track, he could be considered for the 2m3f handicap on the final day of the meeting, a race which McManus won (with the Englishtrained Camprond) in 2022

IMPOSE TOI

The

app everyone is talking about

Day 1 (Tuesday 30th April) – 2m, Grade 1

WILLIAM HILL CHAMPION CHASE

OVERVIEW

ONE of three Grade 1 contests on the opening day of the fixture, Cheltenham’s Queen Mother Champion Chase – as you might expect – is often the best guide towards the race, with Energumene completing the double in both 2022 and 2023 His trainer Willie Mullins has won the race eight times in total, with six of those wins having been recorded since 2015 Formerly a handicap, it became a conditions race in 1999 when Celibate was successful for Charlie Mann. Nicky Henderson saddled the winner either side of that year and won it more recently with the brilliant Sprinter Sacre some 11 years ago. Paul Nicholls also won back-to-back renewals in 2008 and 2009, meaning that British-trained horses were successful nine times in all between 1998 and 2017. Mullins, however, has taken command in recent years, winning the past five renewals.

QUEEN MOTHER CHAMPION CHASE

AS TOUCHED upon in the Overview, the most recent winner Energumene had won the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham prior to winning each of the past two renewals of this race Sprinter Sacre also landed the double in 2013 (he was the last Champion Chase winner to attempt the double, with him having also won at Aintree in between) and since 2006, only six Queen Mother winners have run at Punchestown, with five successful, the other pair being Newmill (2006) and Master Minded (2009)

Since 2003, 15 of the 20 winners of this race had contested the Champion Chase, with both Big Zeb (2011) and Sizing Europe (ahead of his first win in the race, in 2012) having finished runner-up in the feature on day two of the Cheltenham Festival.

This year's Queen Mother was dealt a blow on the morning of the race when Jonbon was declared a non-runner and the race was blown wide-open when El Fabiolo (sent off 2-9F) was pulled-up shortly after making a serious mistake at the fifth fence. Captain Guinness went on to win the race, with Rachael Blackmore becoming the first female jockey to land the Grade 1 prize.

MULLINS GOES FOR SIX IN A ROW

THE power of the Willie Mullins stable has been well-documented over the years and indeed, earlier in this Guide. His dominance in almost every division is staggering and having first won this race in 2001 with Micko’s Dream (the 2001 renewal took place at Fairyhouse out of interest), Mullins added a second Punchestown Champion Chase to his C.V. when Golden Silver was successful in 2010 and Felix Yonger made it three in 2015 However, he has more recently won the past five renewals of this race, saddling the first and second in 2018, 2019, 2021 and 2022, and last year recorded a 1-2-3-4 with Energumene defending his crown at the main expense of stable-mates Chacun Pour Soi (winner in 2021 and twice runner-up since), Blue Lord and Gentleman de Mee.

There were only five runners last year, so Mullins was responsible for 80% of the field and that is kind of indicative of many an Irish Grade 1 these days, with Mullins dominating the fields at the Dublin Racing Festival in February. During those past five years alone, Mullins has saddled no fewer than 16 runners and since 2001, he has had 37 runners in the race.

Of his most recent five winners, Un de Sceaux was third favourite (behind stable-mates Douvan and Min) in 2018 and second favourite (again, behind Min) the

following year, whereas the past three winners have justified short-priced favouritism. Again, when looking at results at the Dublin Racing Festival in recent years, it isn’t always Mullins’ first-string (according to the betting and jockey bookings) who comes out on top.

As for this year, El Fabiolo is sure to be a warm order if lining up, despite his Cheltenham mishap, whilst Mullins is also likely to consider running Dinoblue, who was beaten by a stronger stayer in the Mares' Chase.

PREVIOUS FESTIVAL FORM

WE HAVE seen three dual winners of the race in the past 11 renewals, so obviously that trio had winning form in the book by the time they each won their second Champion Chase, although two of them – namely Un de Sceaux and Energumene – had won the Barberstown Novice Chase at this fixture, as had other recent winners God’s Own and Chacun Pour Soi The last-named pairing had won it two years before their respective wins in this race, whilst Un de Sceaux won it back in 2015. Energumene was successful in the Grade 1 – which is staged over the same distance (2m) – the year before his first win in the race and last year’s renewal was won in comprehensive fashion by the aforementioned El Fabiolo, who came home 11 lengths clear of stable-mate Dysart Dynamo.

Interestingly, Un de Sceaux and Sizing Europe had also won the non-Graded 2m novice hurdle at this fixture and that race was also won in 2022 by El Fabiolo Sizing Europe had also won his first three starts over fences at this track and finished third (as a novice) and second in the two renewals prior to his first win in the race Respect strong form at this meeting and at Punchestown in general

AGE

WHILST it can be a barrier in many of the championship races at Cheltenham, older horses have proven to be successful in the Punchestown Champion Chase, with six double-digit winners since 2004 when Moscow Flyer was successful at the age of 10 Big Zeb, Sizing Europe and Un de Sceaux (both twice) have been successful between the ages of 10 and 12 during the past 12 renewals, so certainly don’t let age put you off.

At the other end of the scale, only two six-yearolds have been successful this century, those being the Paul Nicholls-trained pairing of Twist Magic (2008) and Master Minded (2009), whilst only two seven-year-olds have been successful in the past 26 renewals This is slightly unusual, in that the younger, improving horses tend to dominate the Cheltenham Grade 1s

KEY TRENDS

Willie Mullins has trained the past 5 winners and 8 winners in all

(Since 2006) 5 of the 6 QMCC winners to have run have won

14 of the past 15 winners had already won at least once at Grade 1 level

22 of the past 26 winners were aged 8+

17 of the past 22 winners finished 1st (14) or 2nd (3) last time out

15 of the past 20 winners ran in the QMCC

13 winners this century had won over further during the current campaign

9 of the past 11 winners returned at 5-1 or shorter (5 were outright favourite)

9 of the 20 winners between 1998 and 2017 were British-trained

Respect course form

Respect horses rated 170+

Nicky Henderson-trained runners are 3-5 since 1998

Paul Nicholls-trained runners are 2-4 since 2008

No double-figure priced winner since 2010

Only 1 of the past 19 winners had failed to win earlier in the season

Only 2 winners this century were unbeaten during the current campaign

Only 2 7yo winners this century

Only 2 6yo winners this century

OFFICIAL RATINGS

FOLLOWING his breath-taking win in the Melling Chase at Aintree, Sprinter Sacre arrived at Punchestown with a rating of 188 ahead of his win in 2013 The next half-dozen winners were all rated between 158 and 169, but the past three were all rated in the 170s and any runner with such a lofty official rating should be treated with utmost respect. Sizing Europe and Un de Sceaux were probably past their best when winning this race, but had reached marks in the 170s in their prime and we should be focusing on those who are rated mid-160s as a minimum.

GRADE 1 WINNING FORM

ONLY one of the past 15 winners – that being Felix Yonger – had failed to win at Grade 1 level prior to the race. Mansony (2007) was the last before him, so we really should be focusing on those with winning form at the highest level. Certainly of late, the classier horses have come to the fore (see previous subsection

for further evidence) and those who have yet to make their mark at this level have found life difficult.

MARKET FORCES

SINCE 2012, five of the 11 winners were outright favourite, with the past three winners included within the quintet. Four of the five returned at odds-on, with Sprinter Sacre the shortest-priced winner of the lot, with Nicky Henderson’s star returning at odds of 1-9 in 2013 Golden Silver was the last double-figure priced winner of the race, when successful at 12-1 in 2010, whilst a further four subsequent winners returned at 5-1 or shorter. ‘Shock’ results are, therefore, very few and far between in this race, with the majority of winners found within the top two or three of the market.

DON’T BE PUT OFF BY A DEFEAT

INTERESTINGLY, Sprinter Sacre is the only winner in the past 13 – since Master Minded was successful in 2009 – to have been unbeaten throughout the current season Clearly, arriving at Punchestown with a perfect record during the current campaign can’t be seen as a negative, but it goes to show that a defeat earlier in the season shouldn’t be viewed upon in a negative way, as the aforementioned pairing – who were completely dominant in the division at their very best – are the only ‘unbeaten’ (that season) winners this century.

ARRIVING IN FORM

WHILST a defeat during the season shouldn’t put you off, a positive latest run is certainly something to look for, with only five winners since 2001 having failed to finish first or second last time out. Of those 17, 14 had won on their most recent start, with the other three finishing runner-up, two having finished second in the Champion Chase at Cheltenham

In terms of form from earlier in the campaign, only one of the past 19 winners – that being Un de Sceaux in 2019 – had failed to win at least once.

BRITISH-RAIDERS TO BE RESPECTED

WHILST we have only seen three British-trained runners take their chance in the past five renewals, they used to boast a fine record in this race, winning it on nine occasions between 1998 and 2017 During that 20-year period, only 31 British-trained horses ran in the race, so nine winners was a fantastic return. However, I think the Celebration Chase at Sandown being upgraded has since made British trainers have a re-think, along with the obvious stumbling block of facing a much-stronger crop of Irish horses these days. Nicky Henderson has won the race three times since 1998 and has only had five runners during this period, so boasts a magnificent strike-rate, as

does Paul Nicholls, who won back-to-back renewals – including a first and second in 2008 – from just four runners in total. It remains to be seen as to whether the leading British trainers will start to target the race once again.

OTHER IRISH TRAINERS TO NOTE

ASIDE from Willie Mullins – covered in detail in an earlier subsection – Henry de Bromhead is the only Irish trainer to have won the Punchestown Champion Chase more than once this century, although his two wins were gained with the same horse, Sizing Europe Prior to that, Arthur Moore won three renewals between 1996 and 2007, with Klairon Davis successful in both 1996 and 1997, before Mansony scored for the Naas-based trainer, who no longer has the string he once did.

OTHER KEY RACES

ASIDE from the Queen Mother (covered in the opening subsection), Un de Sceaux twice ran in the Ryanair Chase at the Cheltenham Festival en route to victory here. Beaten on both occasions, he had time to win at Fairyhouse before his first win in 2018.

That same season, he had won the Hilly Way Chase on his reappearance and five winners in the past eight had won the early-season Grade 2 at Cork, including the past three. This season’s Hilly Way was won by El Fabiolo, whilst Un de Sceaux went on to win the Clarence House Chase at Ascot ahead of the Cheltenham Festival, a race in which Energumene was twice beaten before he completed his Champion Chase doubles This year’s Clarence House saw a shock, with Jonbon beaten at short odds, having jumped poorly throughout

Another race to note from earlier in the season is the Paddy’s Rewards Chase at Leopardstown’s Christmas Festival – won this season by the mare, Dinoblue – whilst three of the past 10 winners won Aintree’s Melling Chase on their most recent start There was just 18 days between the races when Sprinter Sacre, God’s Own and Fox Norton completed the double and the turnaround is the same this year, with the meetings coming quite close together

FORM OVER FURTHER

THE Melling Chase obviously takes place over 2m4f and several recent winners had shown form over further during the current campaign. Energumene wasn’t one of them, but he had won a beginners chase over 2m4f before dropping back in distance, whilst the seven successive winners between 2012 and 2018 had all won over a longer trip that very season A further six winners this century had won over further earlier in the campaign.

ROLL OF HONOUR

LEADING TEN-YEAR GUIDES

MOTHER CHAMPION CHASE

Day 2 (Wednesday 1st May) – 3m, Grade 1

LADBROKES PUNCHESTOWN GOLD CUP

OVERVIEW

AGAIN, there are three Grade 1 races on the second day of the meeting, with the Gold Cup the only Grade 1 steeplechase. First run in the current format in 1999, the first two renewals were won by Ruby Walsh, who bowed out as one of the all-time great jockeys of the sport, with victory aboard Kemboy in 2019 Willie Mullins’ first win in the race came in 2002 with the 10-year-old Florida Pearl, although he had to wait until 2013 to record a second success in the race. The trainer has now won five of the past 10 renewals, although he has seen both Al Boum Photo and Galopin des Champs beaten having won the Gold Cup on their previous start. Paul Nicholls has won the race three times since 2007, with Neptune Collonges (twice) and Clan des Obeaux providing the UK’s champion trainer with his trio of victories. Second-season chasers tend to have a good record in this race, too.

CHELTENHAM FESTIVAL FORM

16 OF THE past 19 winners had run at the Cheltenham Festival, with 10 of those having run in the Gold Cup That said, only three of the past nine winners had run in the showpiece event from Cheltenham, the latest being Kemboy – who unseated his rider at the very first fence – in 2019 Sizing John is the only Gold Cup winner to complete the double in the past 16 renewals, with the two latest to attempt it – Al Boum Photo and Galopin des Champs – both beaten in the past four renewals Earlier this century, Kicking King (2005) and War Of Attrition (2006) completed the double, but we have also seen the likes of Denman, Kauto Star and Cue Card beaten in this race, on the back of running big races in the Gold Cup, so rather like the Bowl at Aintree, it can leave a mark on a horse for the remainder of the season Likewise, Florida Pearl was beaten in the 1999 renewal – on the back of finishing third in the Gold Cup – before winning the race in 2002, when he was tailed off before winning at Aintree. Whilst respecting the Gold Cup form (obviously!), tread carefully with those who appeared to have had a tough race.

More recently, the Ryanair Chase has started to have an impact on the Punchestown Gold Cup, with

four of the past 13 winners having contested the 2m5f race Don Cossack hit the frame on day three of the festival before winning this race in 2015, whilst Allaho completed the double two years ago

And, of course, last year’s winner came out of a Cheltenham handicap, with Fastorslow narrowly denied by the subsequent Grand National winner in the Ultima Grade 1 form is, however, much more common.

Looking at this year's results from Cheltenham and Galopin des Champs comfortably defended his Gold Cup crown, running out a 3½- length winner, whilst the Ryanair Chase was won by Protektorat, who stayed-on well to fend off the 2023 winner Envoi Allen and Conflated

AINTREE FORM

FOUR of the past nine winners had won at Aintree on their previous start, so despite the close proximity between fixtures, don’t be quick to overlook form from the Grand National meeting. Both Boston Bob and Don Cossack arrived at Punchestown having won the 2m4f Melling Chase, whilst Kemboy and Clan des Obeaux had both been successful in the Bowl Chase over this sort of trip.

Although there is less than three weeks between the end of Aintree and the beginning of Punchestown this year, this was also the case when both Don Cossack (19 day gap) and Clan des Obeaux (20 day gap) were successful, so again, don’t assume that the race will come too quickly for any horse who attempts the double

This year's Melling Chase was won by the returning Jonbon, with runner-up Conflated performing best of the three Irish-trained runners in the race Given that he is 0-3 at Punchestown, Gordon Elliott's 10-year-old wouldn't appeal as an obvious contender The previous day, his stable-mate Gerri Colombe won the Bowl, with the novice (and National Hunt Chase winner) Corbetts Cross back in third. The winner looked to have a hard race, which came on the back of his second in the Gold Cup, so his participation would also have to be in some doubt

MULLINS’ SIX OF THE BEST

HAVING first won the race in 2002 with Florida Pearl, Willie Mullins won five of the nine renewals between 2013 and 2022 (no race in 2020, of course), with Allaho his most recent winner, scoring in emphatic fashion two years ago. Since 2019 – when he still captured the prize with Kemboy, who was partnered by Ruby Walsh on his final ever ride – Mullins has, however, seen his pair of Gold Cup winners – namely Al Boum Photo and Galopin des Champs – underperform and suffer a reversal in this race In total, since 1999, Mullins has saddled 42 runners in the race, with 26 coming during the past 10 renewals Therefore, his strike-rate wouldn’t be particularly strong, as he is often mod-handed That said, the market has always got it right with his winners, with each of the six the shortest-priced from the stable, with five of them returning as outright favourite and Bellshill was sent off 4-1 second best, so pay utmost respect to his apparent first string

OTHER TRAINERS TO NOTE

SUCCESSFUL in both 2007 and 2008 with Neptune Collonges, champion British trainer Paul Nicholls won a third Punchestown Gold Cup with Clan des Obeaux in 2021 and he returned to finish runner-up the following year Bravemansgame finished third in the race last year for team Nicholls and although Denman and Kauto Star were beaten in 2010 and 2011 respectively – on the back of tough races in the Gold Cup – runners from Ditcheat clearly warrant considerable respect. A record of 3-9 since 2007 is most noteworthy. In contrast, Henry de Bromhead has yet to solve this puzzle, which is slightly surprising given that he boasts such a strong recent record in the Gold Cup at Cheltenham. Monalee and Minella Indo were recent disappointments in the race, whilst Envoi Allen could

KEY TRENDS

4 of the past 9 winners had won at Aintree Willie Mullins has trained 5 of the past 10 winners

17 of the past 19 winners were aged 7-9

16 of the past 19 winners ran at the Cheltenham Festival

13 of the past 18 winners were second-season chasers

13 of the past 21 winners had won at Punchestown previously

12 of the past 21 favourites were successful 11 winners this century had won last time out

10 of the past 11 winners had already won a Grade 1

8 of the past 10 winners returned at 4-1 or shorter

7 of the past 12 winners had run during the month of April

All 6 of Willie Mullins’ winners were the shortest price of his runners

The past 4 winners were French-bred Paul Nicholls-trained runners are 3-9 since 2007

Henry de Bromhead-trained runners are 0-6 since 2017

Only 1 of the past 19 winners was aged 10 (0 winners over the age of 10)

Only 1 of the 24 winners was aged 6

Only 2 of the past 11 winners had run more than 4 times that season

Only 3 of the 23 winners this century failed to record a top-4 finish last time out

finish only fourth of five last year, on the back of his Ryanair success The trainer is 0-6 since 2017

PAUL NICHOLLS

SECOND-SEASON CHASERS

WHILST Fastorslow became the first second-season chaser to win this race since Kemboy in 2017, such horses have won 13 of the past 18 renewals Therefore, looking at strong novice chase form from the previous season is key Three fairly recent winners had run in the previous season’s Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase, a race which was won by The Real Whacker in 2023, who fended off the late burst of Gerri Colombe.

The same three horses had run in the Ladbrokes Novice Chase – now staged at the Dublin Racing Festival – en route to Cheltenham (as had Sir des Champs in 2013), a race which was won in 2023 by the ill-fated Mighty Potter

Both Sir des Champs (2013) and Bellshill had won the Faugheen Novice Chase at Limerick the previous season, a race which was won last term by the aforementioned Gerri Colombe, whilst the former went on to win the Turners Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham, a race in which Kemboy had finished fourth the previous season Last year’s Turners was won by the Paul Nicholls-trained Stage Star.

AGE

RATHER in-keeping with the previous subsection and focusing on the unexposed chasers, there has been just one 10-year-old winner in the past 19 renewals During this same period, only Neptune Collonges (2007) was successful at the tender age of six, so we should very much be focusing on those aged between seven and nine. In fact, Paul Nicholls’ two-time winning grey is the only horse to date to have won as a six-year-old, whilst we have yet to see a winner over the age of 10

MARKET FORCES

BETWEEN 2002 and 2022, 12 of the 20 winners were outright favourite. For three successive years between 2010 and 2012 we saw bigger-priced winners of this race, but since then, only two of the past 10 winners returned at odds greater than 4-1. The pair in question does, of course, include last year’s winner Fastorslow, who was sent off at 20-1 having been beaten in handicap company last time and seemingly facing a stiff task against the Gold Cup first and second

COURSE FORM

AGAIN, between the period of 2002 and 2022, 13 of the 20 winners had previously won at Punchestown, so course form is hugely significant. Kemboy is the most recent winner to have won at the previous year’s festival, with him successful in the valuable 2m5f novice handicap in 2018 Pay healthy respect to those who have won in County Kildare previously

CURRENT FORM

THIS century, we have seen 11 last-time-out winners land the Punchestown Gold Cup, whilst another nine had finished second, third or fourth on their previous start and given that the majority of those winners had run in a Cheltenham Grade 1 the time before, looking for an in-form horse seems important.

In terms of number of runs during the current season, only one of the past seven winners had run more than four times earlier in the campaign, that being Sizing John, whilst Don Cossack had run six times during a very busy season Therefore, nine of the past 11 winners had run four times or less, which seems more common in this day and age, when we get to see the stars of the sport less frequently.

Slightly surprisingly, seven of the past 12 winners had run during the month of April, with five of them contesting Grade 1s at Aintree (see earlier subsection for more details). China Rock had run in the Punchestown Champion Chase just four days earlier (Gold Cup took place later in the week back then) and Bellshill had finished fifth in the Irish Grand National just 23 days earlier.

GRADE 1 WINNING FORM

LAST year’s winner defied this statistic, but generally speaking, it can pay to focus on those with winning form already in the book in Grade 1 company. The previous 10 winners had been successful at the highest level, with Bellshill having won his Grade 1s over hurdles The other nine had won at least one Grade 1 over fences, with China Rock (2012) the last before Fastorslow to win without that Grade 1 form in the book.

FRENCH-BRED SUCCESS

THE past four winners were French-bred horses, with Kemboy the first such winner since Sir des Champs in 2013 He led home a French-bred one-two – beating stable-mate and Gold Cup winner Al Boum Photo – and they were the only two French-bred runners among an eight-strong field The past three renewals have been littered with a much greater French-bred representation, which is kind of indicative of many a Grade 1 chase, with an ever-growing influence becoming more and more apparent. Those of you who have read the Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide will recall Racing TV’s Jess Stafford touching on this very subject in her excellent Breeding Angles section of the publication.

ROLL OF HONOUR

LEADING TEN-YEAR GUIDES

GALOPIN DES CHAMPS RETAINS HIS GOLD CUP CROWN

Day 3 (Thursday 2nd May) – 2m7½f, Grade 1

LADBROKES CHAMPION STAYERS HURDLE

OVERVIEW

THE Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham is often a pointer towards the Champion Stayers – which was first run in 1995 – although the only horse to win both races is Anzum way back in 1999 As with the Cheltenham contest, we have seen horses with strong form over the minimum trip step up in distance to win the day three feature, so pay close attention to any such runners. Willie Mullins has won the race 10 times – with Quevega providing the trainer with four successive victories between 2010 and 2013 – whilst Klassical Dream has won the past three renewals. Derrymoyle (1995, 1996 & 1998) and Unowhatimeanharry are another pair of multiple winners of the race.

STAYERS’ HURDLE

THE past three winners had contested the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, finishing in positions ranging from fifth to twelfth. Klassical Dream had finished ninth behind Sire du Berlais at Cheltenham last year, before categorically reversing the form with the winner at a course which he clearly adores In finishing third, Sire du Berlais became the sixth Stayers’ Hurdle winner to have run in this race this century and all six have been beaten, the others being Bacchanal (4th in 2000), Iris’s Gift (2nd in 2004), Nichols Canyon (2nd in 2017), Penhill (2nd in 2018) and Flooring Porter (P.U in 2021). 2013 Stayers’ Hurdle winner Solwhit was withdrawn at the start of the race, when favourite to beat Quevega, who landed a fourth win in the race in his absence. Therefore, respect the form of the ‘also-rans’ from the Stayers’ but tread carefully should the winner turn up, with Anzum (1999) the only horse to complete the double.

This year's Stayers' Hurdle was won by Teahupoo, who had finished third last year before finishing only fourth in this race. A word of caution (in addition to the paragraph above) in relation to Gordon Elliott's seven-year-old would be that he does appear to be a much better horse on the back of a break and also on soft or heavy ground, so it remains to be seen as

to whether or not he will be able to back-up his Cheltenham success It should be noted that Irish-trained horses filled the first seven places.

OTHER FESTIVAL FORM

BETWEEN 2006 and 2018, three winners had run in the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham, those being Asian Maze (fell), Jezki (4th) and Faugheen (6th) and the first named pairing went on to win the Aintree Hurdle en route to Punchestown (more of Aintree shortly) This year's Champion Hurdle second, Irish Point, would be a possible contender for this race, should his connections (Gordon Elliott and Robcour) feel that the race will come too soon for Stayers' Hurdle winner, Teahupoo.

Carlys Quest (2005), Refinement (2007) and Jetson had all run in the Pertemps Final at Cheltenham. Again, all three ran in Liverpool before heading to Punchestown to land this Grade 1 contest.

And, of course, Quevega won the Mares’ Hurdle in each of the four years prior to winning this race (2010 – 2013).

AINTREE FORM

AS WITH the previous races covered, several recent winners had run at Aintree ahead of the

Punchestown Festival, which is (again) slightly surprising, given the proximity of the two meetings in the calendar.

Rhinestone Cowboy (2004 and on the back of a third in the Coral Cup at Cheltenham, incidentally), Asian Maze (2006) and more recently Jezki, all won the 2m4f Aintree Hurdle on their most recent start, whilst Fiveforthree (2009) finished runner-up in that race And, Sacundai was beaten a neck in the 2003 renewal on the back of winning the Aintree Hurdle, too. There is exactly three weeks between the two races this year and the Aintree Hurdle was won by Impaire et Passe.

Carlys Quest (2005) and Blazing Bailey (2008) were successful in the 3m Liverpool Hurdle, a race in which Unowhatimeanharry finished only twelfth ahead of his second win in this race The placed horses from this year's race, Buddy One and Hiddenvalley Lake, feature among the entries

And, a couple – namely Refinement (2007) and Jetson – had hit the frame in the valuable 3m handicap hurdle which now takes place on Grand National day, meaning that no fewer than nine of the 16 winners between 2004 and 2019 had run at Aintree.

OTHER KEY RACES

GIVEN their previous form over the minimum trip, both Jezki and Faugheen had contested the three major domestic Grade 1s over 2m earlier in the campaign, those being the Morgiana Hurdle, Matheson Hurdle and the Irish Champion Hurdle All three races were won this season by State Man and whilst there is little chance of him running here, those who finished in behind would be of interest if stepping up in distance. The track at Punchestown is relatively sharp, so a 3m test often suits a horse with a good deal of natural pace Rather like the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, plenty of winners had very good form over shorter in the book, before stepping up in distance later on in their careers

Over this sort of distance, the Galmoy Hurdle at Gowran Park in late-January has thrown up a couple of recent winners and that race was won this year by the returning Monkfish

AGE

TO DATE, Paddy’s Return (1997) is the sole fiveyear-old winner of the race, whilst we have seen six horses prove to be successful at the (still) tender age of six. That said, One Track Mind is the only winner of that age group in the past 12 renewals (since Quevega won her first) and it is probably best to focus on those aged between seven and nine, with only two double-digit aged winners in

KEY TRENDS

Willie Mullins has trained 9 of the past 14 winners (10 in total)

16 of the past 21 winners had already won a Grade 1

The past 13 Irish-trained winners had all won at Punchestown previously

11 of the past 19 winners returned at 100-30 or shorter

11 of the past 14 winners had won just once earlier in the season

9 of Willie Mullins’ 10 winners were ‘first string’ according to the betting

9 of the past 18 winners had run at Aintree 9 of the past 12 winners were aged between 7-9

Respect Grade 1 form over shorter

Respect Grade 1 novice hurdle form from this meeting

Stayers’ Hurdle winners are 0-6 this century

Anzum (1999) is the only horse to complete the Cheltenham-Punchestown double

Only 1 5yo has ever won the race

Only 1 of the past 9 winners won last-time-out

Only 2 double-digit aged winners in the past 17 renewals

Only 2 of the past 18 winners had won more than once earlier in the season

Only 3 of the past 15 winners returned at odds greater than 11-2

the past 17 renewals Nine of the past 12 winners have been aged between seven and nine.

MARKET FORCES

SINCE 2004 when Rhinestone Cowboy beat his stable-mate and Stayers’ Hurdle winner Iris’s Gift, no fewer than 11 of the 19 winners returned at 100-30 or shorter, with seven of them justifying outright favouritism (Klassical Dream was joint-favourite last year, too) In the past 15 renewals, we have seen just three winners return at odds greater than 11-2, so again, this is another Grade 1 at the fixture which tends to be dominated by the top two or three in the betting.

CURRENT FORM

BETWEEN 2004 and 2015, nine of the 12 winners arrived at Punchestown on the back of a win, although since Quevega won her four renewals of the race, the only successful last-time-out winner was Jezki some nine years ago. Therefore, don’t be put off by a recent defeat

Since 2005, only two of the past 18 winners had won more than once during the current campaign. We often see horses beating one another in the staying division and it certainly seems to be the case when assessing this race Therefore, don’t be put off by seemingly disappointing form figures from earlier in the campaign Of the past 14 winners, 11 had recorded just one win earlier that season, whilst Klassical Dream twice won the race on the back of zero wins during that season

GRADE 1 FORM

SINCE 2002 when the great Limestone Lad won the race for James Bowe, 16 of the 21 winners had already been successful at the top level. This includes the past six winners and 10 of the past 12, with only Jetson and One Track Mind defying this trend in recent years.

COURSE FORM

14 OF THE past 17 winners had already won at least once at Punchestown earlier in their careers, with the three who failed being British-trained winners of the race. The one ‘raider’ who had been successful at the course previously was Refinement, who had won the Grade 1 Bumper at the meeting in 2005. Plenty of recent winners had run at this fixture as a novice hurdler, with Jezki, Faugheen and Klassical Dream all having won the Grade 1 Champion Novice Hurdle – over 2m – in their respective first season over hurdles Asian Maze had won the 2m4f race of the same name as a novice and Fiveforthree actually ran in both Grade 1s on the back of his win in the Baring Bingham at Cheltenham

MULLINS WITH 10 ON THE BOARD

HAVING first won the race with Holy Orders in 2003, Willie Mullins has now won the Champion Stayers Hurdle 10 times, with his other nine wins coming in the past 14 renewals Fiveforthree started the ball rolling in 2009, before Quevega won the next four renewals Former Champion Hurdle winner Faugheen (also won the Punchestown Champion Hurdle) was successful in 2018, before Klassical Dream has landed each of the past three renewals

With Klassical Dream on the side-lines, Mullins has three options this year, those being Asterion Forlonge, Monkfish and Sir Gerhard.

In terms of runners, since 2009 Mullins has saddled no fewer than 46 runners in the race (average of 3.28) with seven horses representing him in 2018, when Faugheen led home a Mullins-trained 1-2-3, with Stayers’ Hurdle winner Penhill 13 lengths away in second Nine of his 10 winners were the shortest priced runner from his stable, with five justifying outright favouritism. Therefore, pay more respect to his supposed ‘first string’ according to the market.

OTHER TRAINERS TO NOTE

ALTHOUGH she hasn’t won the race with any of her four runners in the past five renewals, Jessica Harrington landed back-to-back Champion Stayers’ in 2014 and 2015, and has only had those half-dozen runners during this period Often on target at this fixture, Harrington’s two winners had both been in action at both Cheltenham and Aintree ahead of taking this prize.

British-based trainers Jonjo O’Neill and Harry Fry have both won the race twice, although the last named won it with the same horse and O’Neill’s winners came back in 2004 – when he saddled the one-two – and three years later, with the classy mare, Refinement

BUDDY ONE AND HIDDENVALLEY LAKE CHASE HOME STRONG LEADER IN THE LIVERPOOL HURDLE

ROLL OF HONOUR

LEADING TEN-YEAR GUIDES

Stayers’ Hurdle 4 (Unowhatimeanharry 3rd & 8th , Klassical Dream 5th & 9th)

Champion Hurdle 2 (Jezki 4th , Faugheen 6th)

Morgiana Hurdle 2 (Jezki 2nd , Faugheen 1st)

Matheson Hurdle 2 (Jezki 2nd , Faugheen P.U.)

Irish Champion Hurdle 2 (Jezki 3rd , Faugheen 2nd)

Galmoy Hurdle 2 (Jetson 3rd , Klassical Dream 4th)

* Champion Stayers Hurdle 2 (Klassical Dream 1st & 1st)

* denotes previous season

TEAHUPOO WINS LAST MONTH'S STAYERS' HURDLE

Day 4 (Friday 3rd May) – 2m, Grade 1

BOODLES CHAMPION HURDLE

OVERVIEW

IN CONTRAST to the Punchestown Gold Cup and the Champion Stayers Hurdle, horses who have won the equivalent race at the Cheltenham Festival boast a fine record in the Punchestown Champion Hurdle, with the past six Champion Hurdle winners to have run having been successful in their bid to complete the double. The feature race from the opening day of the Cheltenham Festival is the obvious starting point when assessing this race, which has been won eight times by Willie Mullins since 2010, when Hurricane Fly won the first of his four successive renewals. Introduced in its current format in 1999, that first renewal was won by Istabraq, whilst the likes of Moscow Flyer, Hardy Eustace, Brave Inca, Faugheen, Honeysuckle and State Man all feature among an illustrious roll of honour.

CHAMPION HURDLE

10 OF THE past 12 winners of this race had run in the Champion Hurdle in March, including last year’s winner State Man, who had finished runner-up to Constitution Hill at Cheltenham, before recording a fourth Grade 1 of what was a lucrative campaign As touched upon in the Overview, the past six Champion Hurdle winners to have run in the Punchestown equivalent have won, as did Istabraq in 1999 and Hardy Eustace in 2004 Only two Champion Hurdle winners – those being Brave Inca in 2006 and Punjabi in 2009 (each in the year after they won this race) – have been beaten here this century The top-class mare Honeysuckle is the latest to have completed the double, successful in both races in 2021 and 2022

Brave Inca (2005) and Punjabi (2008) had finished third in the Champion Hurdle before winning at Punchestown, as had Hurricane Fly ahead of his third win in the race (2012), whilst like last year’s winner, Macs Joy had finished second ahead of his win in 2006. Pay utmost respect to those who ran well in big race on day one of the Cheltenham Festival

With Constitution Hill ruled out of the race, State Man justified favouritism in this year's renewal.

CAN STATE MAN STRIKE AGAIN?

SURPRISINGLY, we have only seen two multiple winners of the Punchestown Champion Hurdle, those being four-time winner Hurricane Fly and more recently, two-time winner Honeysuckle Following his comfortable victory at Cheltenham, last year’s winner will be a short price to become the third horse to win the race more than once and it is hard to see where any serious challenge will emerge from A slight word of caution, however, both Brave Inca and Punjabi were beaten title holders, on the back of winning at Cheltenham

MULLINS LOOKING FOR 10TH SUCCESS

HAVING first won the race with the novice Davenport Milenium in 2002 – who had, incidentally, won a Grade 1 novice hurdle just two days earlier – Willie Mullins has now won the race nine times, with those last eight wins coming since 2010. Hurricane Fly won the race four times for the stable, before Faugheen and Vroum Vroum Mag were successful in the colours of Susannah Ricci. Wicklow Brave and State Man are Mullins’ two latest winners in another Grade 1 which he has dominated in recent years, although it should be said that last year’s winner was his first in five renewals

Again, numerically, Mullins is always very well represented. Since 2010 when Hurricane Fly won the race for the first time, he has saddled no fewer than 33 runners in the race (average of 2.5), which is actually 39% of all field sizes during this period. Six of Mullins’ past seven winners were sent off at odds-on.

MARKET FORCES

ONLY two of the 24 winners of the race were sent off at odds greater than 7-1, those being Silent Oscar (2007) and Wicklow Brave (2017), whilst nine of the past 12 winners were justifying odds-on favouritism. Istabraq did the same in the very first renewal, but was actually the only outright favourite to win in the first 12 runnings of the race, whilst six second-favourites won between 2003 and 2010, and Buveur d’Air was sent off joint-favourite when successful five years ago. Again, shocks are rare in this Grade 1 contest

COURSE FORM

STATE MAN had won both previous starts at Punchestown, including the Grade 1 Champion Novice Hurdle – over 2m4f – at the previous year’s Festival. That race was won last year by Impaire et Passe, whilst both Faugheen and Jezki had won the 2m version of the Champion Novice Hurdle 12 months earlier, a race won last year by Facile Vega Course form seems to be quite significant, with 18 of the 24 winners having already won at Punchestown previously (2001 is irrelevant, too, with part of the meeting - this race included - taking place at Leopardstown, so this is a strong statistic)

Grimes (2000), Quazar (2003) and Punjabi (2008) had all won the Champion 4-Y-O Hurdle with the last named pairing successful in that race just 12 months earlier Although it hasn’t had an impact more recently, it is still worth noting and the race was won by Lossiemouth last year

State Man had won the Morgiana Hurdle at Punchestown on his reappearance last season (and again this), as had Hurricane Fly (2013) and Moscow Flyer (2001)

AINTREE HURDLE

AGAIN, as with earlier races covered, Aintree form shouldn’t be overlooked and it certainly shouldn’t be assumed that Punchestown will come too quickly on the back of a trip to Liverpool. Six of the 24 winners had contested the Aintree Hurdle on their most recent start, with Istabraq (1999) and Solwhit (2009) completing the double More recently, both Supasundae and Buveur d’Air had finished runner-up in the 2m4f contest before

KEY TRENDS

The past 6 Champion Hurdle winners to have run have won

Willie Mullins has won 8 of the past 13 renewals (9 in total)

Mares are 3-7 since 2016

18 of the 24 winners had won at Punchestown previously

10 of the past 12 winners were rated 164+ (8 of them were clear top-rated)

10 of the past 12 winners ran in the Champion Hurdle (8 recorded a top-3 finish)

10 of the past 14 winners finished 1st or 2nd last time out (7 had won)

9 of the past 12 winners justified odds-on favouritism

8 of the past 12 winners had run in the Irish Champion Hurdle (7 had won)

6 of the 24 winners had run in the Aintree Hurdle

2 of the past 8 winners were owned by Susannah Ricci

Respect Grade 1 form from this meeting

No winner over the age of 9 (and only 1 9yo winner)

Only 1 of the past 15 winners failed to record a top-3 finish last time out

Only 2 of the 24 winners returned at odds greater than 7-1

Only 2 of the 24 winners had yet to win a Grade 1

Only 2 of the 24 winners had failed to run 3 times earlier in the season

successfully dropping back to the minimum trip In 2018 when Supasundae won, there was just 15 days between the two races, whilst the gap was as big as 29 days the following year It is in the middle this time, with the Aintree Hurdle having taken place on 11th April, so recovery time stands at 22 days

Impaire et Passe had just a nose to spare over Bob Olinger in a controversial three-way finish

OTHER KEY RACES

AS YOU would expect, the Irish Champion Hurdle is the one which crops up most in the Leading Ten-Year Guides (see Roll Of Honour) from earlier in the campaign. Going back to 2011 when Hurricane Fly won his second Punchestown Champion Hurdle, no fewer than eight of the past 12 winners had contested the Leopardstown Grade 1 in February, with seven of them successful This year’s race was again won by State Man, who fended off Bob

Olinger and Impaire et Passe with relative ease. During the same time period, five winners had run in the Hatton’s Grace Hurdle – staged over 2m4f at Fairyhouse in the early part of the season – whilst four had contested the Matheson Hurdle at Leopardstown’s Christmas Festival This season’s Hatton’s Grace was won by Teahupoo, who outstayed Impaire et Passe, whilst State Man beat the same opponent in the Matheson

Over in England, Faugheen was successful in the Christmas Hurdle at Kempton, a race in which Buveur d’Air had finished second, some four months before winning this race

GRADE 1 FORM

22 OF THE 24 winners had already won at least once at Grade 1 level, so be wary of those stepping up in class The two exceptions to this were Silent Oscar, who caused a shock in 2007, and Wicklow Brave, who did something similar 10 years later. Maybe we can expect another big-priced winner, who has yet to win a Grade 1, in 2027 In all seriousness, we should really focus on those with genuine top-level form in the book and this statistic alone would have ruled out three of last year’s six runners, with Colonel Mustard, Zanahiyr and Pied Piper all falling down on the Grade 1 trend.

AGE

INCREDIBLY, there has never been a double-digit aged winner of this race and in fact, Hurricane Fly –when winning his fourth renewal in 2013 – is the only nine-year-old winner. Again, this stat alone would have wiped out Sharjah last year, so you would have been left with a rather obvious forecast, which paid €2.10. Back to matters in hand and three fiveyear-olds have been successful, so it is clearly more winnable for that age group than the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham (still no easy task, of course), whilst State Man became the fourth six-year-old winner in the past 21 renewals The prime age group would appear to be seven (10) and eight (6), however, with those winning 16 of the 24 renewals to date Focus on those aged eight and younger

OFFICIAL RATINGS

GIVEN that class usually rises to the top in this race, it should come as little surprise that 10 of the past 12 winners were officially rated at least 164, with four of them rated as high as 172 or 173. Of those 10 winners, eight were clear top-rated.

CURRENT FORM

ONLY one of the past 15 winners failed to finish in the first three on their most recent start, that

being Wicklow Brave, who had finished seventh in the Champion Hurdle and it should be noted that he was having his first start of the season at Cheltenham Before him, the last horse to do so was – you guessed it – Silent Oscar in 2007, although he had actually won on the Flat just 12 days before the race, whilst his latest National Hunt run resulted in a tenth placing at Fairyhouse, just five days before that (he endured a busy April 2007). 10 of those winners had either won (7) or finished runner-up (3) on their most recent start, so we really should be looking for an in-form horse.

In terms of runs throughout the season, only two winners had been seen less than three times, with Hurricane Fly (first win in 2010) returning from a 159-day break and Wicklow Brave also having just his second start of the campaign

MARES

THREE mares have won the Punchestown Champion Hurdle in the past seven renewals, with Vroum Vroum Mag preceding the double of Honeysuckle Only seven mares have taken their chance in the past decade, so three winners is a fine return and once again shows how handy a sex-allowance can be, when handed to a high-class mare. Of the beaten mares, Epatante finished third in 2021 and Echoes In Rain chased home Honeysuckle in 2022, providing mares with a notable one-two.

Following her impressive victory in the Mares' Hurdle at Cheltenham, Lossiemouth (won at this fixture last year) would be a fascinating contender She could bid to provide Susannah Ricci with a third win in the race since 2015, with the leading owner also having been responsible for two seconds in the past three renewals, Sharjah and Vauban. Ricci has had eight runners in those past eight renewals, so boasts a 25% win strike-rate with her runners. The Mares Champion Hurdle the following day is, however, a much more likely option for the classy grey

OTHER TRAINERS TO NOTE

ASIDE from Willie Mullins, Jessica Harrington has enjoyed most success in this race, with Moscow Flyer (2001), Macs Joy (2006), Jezki and Supasundae providing the Moone-based trainer with her four victories to date, and from a much smaller sample of runners it must be said. A top-class trainer under both codes, her operation is more focused on the Flat these days, although her runners at this meeting still deserve considerable respect.

Harrington’s close friend Nicky Henderson has won the race twice – with Punjabi (2008) and Buveur d’Air – as has Henry de Bromhead, although Honeysuckle provided him with his two victories to date

WINS

ROLL OF HONOUR

LEADING TEN-YEAR GUIDES

Champion Hurdle 7 (Jezki 1st , Faugheen 1st , Wicklow Brave 7th , Buveur d’Air Fell, Honeysuckle 1st & 1st , State Man 2nd)

Irish Champion Hurdle 5 (Jezki 4th , Supasundae 1st , Honeysuckle 1st & 1st , State Man 1st)

Hatton’s Grace Hurdle 4 (Jezki 1st , Supasundae 3rd , Honeysuckle 1st & 1st)

Matheson Hurdle 2 (Jezki 2nd , State Man 1st)

Christmas Hurdle 2 (Faugheen 1st , Buveur d’Air 2nd)

Aintree Hurdle 2 (Supasundae 2nd , Buveur d’Air 2nd)

* Champion Novice Hurdle 2 (Jezki 1st , Faugheen 1st)

* denotes previous season

Day 5 (Saturday 4th May) – 2m, Grade 1

BALLYMORE CHAMPION FOUR YEAR OLD HURDLE

OVERVIEW

FIRST run in 1980, the Champion Four Year Old Hurdle is one of two Grade 1s on the final day of the meeting Willie Mullins has saddled eight of the past 10 winners – including the two most recent winners, Vauban and Lossiemouth, who followed up Triumph Hurdle success – and the all-conquering trainer has won the race 10 times in total. Leading British trainer Nicky Henderson won the race four times between 1999 and 2019, whilst three fillies have been successful during the past eight renewals. As with the Triumph, French-bred juveniles – and those who ran in France before joining their winning connections – boast a fine recent record in the Champion Four Year Old Hurdle.

TRIUMPH HURDLE

14 OF THE past 16 winners had contested the Triumph Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival, with the two exceptions being Fusil Raffles and Jeff Kidder, with that pair successful in recent years. The former was forced to miss the festival through injury, whilst the latter won the Boodles at Cheltenham, but generally speaking, the Triumph has been the (obvious) key form line towards this race, with the past two winners having completed the double 10 of the other dozen winners had finished in the first five in the opening contest on Gold Cup day.

It should, however, be said that prior to Vauban and Lossiemouth proving successful, the other four Triumph winners to have run here this century were beaten, with the winner often reversing form, so don’t rule out the beaten horses Katarino (1999) was the last before the past two to complete the double.

This year's Triumph Hurdle was won by Majborough, who stayed-on strongly to beat Kargese, although he doesn't hold an entry here.

DOMINANT MULLINS

HOLY ORDERS (2001) and Quatre Heures (2006) provided Willie Mullins with his first two victories in the Champion Four Year Old Hurdle, but since

2013 the Master of Clossuton has won eight of the past 10 renewals Since 2013, Mullins has had 28 runners so like many of these Graded races, he likes to attack this contest in large numbers

Responsible for the 1-2-3 last year, Mullins was responsible for the first and second in this year's Triumph (ran seven horses in all) and is sure to be well-represented again here.

FRENCH-BRED SUCCESS

THERE were four French-bred juveniles in last year’s race and three of them (the other was a 100-1 shot, incidentally) finished first, second and third, with Lossiemouth becoming the tenth French-bred winner of the race in the past 12 renewals Regular readers of the Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide will know that French-bred horses have a tremendous record in the juvenile division, perhaps due to the fact that such horses tend to be more precocious.

FRENCH FORM

IN ADDITION to the previous subsection, all 10 French-bred winners had run in France before joining their winning connections and this is another positive with four-year-old hurdlers The reason for

this being that horses trained in France will likely have started jumping at a much earlier stage and many a recent winner would have effectively have been a second-season hurdler, having won the previous spring/summer in their native France. Again, horses who match this profile are often simply more ready for a Grade 1 test come the spring of their four-year-old season and as such, these horses warrant utmost respect.

Willie Mullins saddled the 1-2-3-4 in the Spring Juvenile Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival (more of that race shortly) and all four had won in France before switching to their current stable, with Kargese and Majborough successful over hurdles and Storm Heart and Bunting successful on the level. This is another example of French dominance in this division

EXPERIENCE IS A POSITIVE

THE past 17 winners had at least three prior starts over hurdles, with 14 of those having run four times or more Of those, a trio had run six time over hurdles and a couple – Barizan (2010) and Grandouet (2011) – had run no fewer than nine times previously, the latter having had three runs in France before joining Nicky Henderson and the double green of Simon Munir and Isaac Souede. Three of the past five winners had run just three times, so perhaps experience isn’t quite as significant as it was previously, but it is certainly something worth taking note of moving forward.

FILLIES ON FORM

LAST year’s winner became the third successful filly in the past eight renewals, with the sex-allowance clearly a positive when it comes to a high-class filly. Petite Parisienne and Apple’s Jade (both representing Willie Mullins and Gigginstown House Stud) won back-to-back renewals and Lossiemouth became another Mullins-trained filly to win in 2023 During this period, 14 fillies have taken their chance, so their record is a strong one and it is worth noting that all three were sent off favourite and all three were French-bred who had run in France. Kargese would fit the profile this year and is one to take very seriously if lining up.

MARKET FORCES

KATARINO justified favouritism in 1999 when completing the Cheltenham-Punchestown double, although Quazar (2002) was the only successful favourite in the first seven renewals this century. Since 2007, however, 13 of the past 16 winners returned at 4-1 or shorter, with eight of those justifying favouritism. Six of the past eight favourites

KEY TRENDS

Willie Mullins has trained 8 of the past 10 winners (and 10 winners in total)

Nicky Henderson-trained runners are 4-9 since 1999

14 of the past 16 winners ran in the Triumph Hurdle

Fillies are 3-14 during the past 8 years

The past 17 winners ran in a Graded race last time out (14 ran in a Grade 1)

14 of the past 17 winners had run 4 times or more over hurdles

13 of the past 16 winners returned at 4-1 or shorter

10 of the past 12 winners were French-bred 10 of the past 12 winners had run in France (7 over hurdles)

10 of the past 21 winners ran during April 6 of the past 8 favourites have won 6 of the past 11 winners finished 1st or 2nd in the Spring Juvenile Hurdle

4 of the past 7 winners ran in the MercedesBenz South Dublin Juvenile Hurdle (3 won)

The past 4 winners won last time out

Susannah Ricci-owned runners are 4-4 since 2017

Respect runners representing Munir & Souede Triumph Hurdle winners are only 2-6 this century (although they were the past 2 winners)

Only 2 of the past 18 winners returned at double-figure odds

Only 3 of the past 16 winners failed to record a top-4 finish last time out

have won, so the form horses are starting to come to the fore, whereas at the other end of the scale, only two of the past 18 winners – namely Saldier and Jeff Kidder – have returned at double-figure odds.

CURRENT FORM

SINCE 2007, all bar three of the 16 winners finished in the first four on their most recent start, with Grandouet brought down in the Anniversary at Aintree, whilst Abbyssial was a faller in the Triumph. Therefore, if a horse completed the course on their latest start, look for a last-time-out winner or one who ran very well in defeat, with only Jumbo Rio (9th) finishing down the field in the Triumph.

Going back to 1999 when Katarino supplemented his win in the Triumph, 10 last-time-out

winners have won this race and this, of course, includes the past four, so it appears to be a growing trend once again.

OTHER KEY RACES

REGULAR readers of the Cheltenham Festival Betting Guide will also know that the Spring Juvenile Hurdle has been the best recent guide towards the Triumph, whilst obviously being an important Grade 1 contest in its own right Now staged at the Dublin Racing Festival, it is the only other top-level juvenile contest of the season staged in Ireland and as such, often attracts the best four-year-old hurdlers in the country. Since 2012, six of the 11 winners finished either first or second in the Spring, including both Vauban and Lossiemouth in the past two years This year, the filly Kargese beat stable-mate Storm Heart, with (as already touched upon) Willie Mullins responsible for the first four home.

Kargese had earlier finished runner-up in the Grade 2 Mercedes-Benz South Dublin Juvenile Hurdle (formerly the ‘Knight Frank’) at Leopardstown over Christmas, a race which four of the past seven winners had contested, with three of them successful. Kala Conti got the better of Kargese, in what was a slowly-run race.

Elsewhere over the Festive period, both Petite Parisienne and Vauban were beaten in the Tote.ie 3-Y-O Maiden Hurdle at Punchestown on New Year’s Eve and that contest was won this season by Storm Heart, who shot 22 lengths clear on his first start for Mullins and Gigginstown House Stud

Early-on last season, Lossiemouth had won the Bar One Juvenile Hurdle at Fairyhouse on her first start in Ireland, a race in which Bapaume had finished second for the same connections. This season’s Grade 3 went the way of Nurburgring, who then went on to finish third behind Kala Conti and Kargese, under a penalty, in the Mercedes-Benz.

Much closer to the Punchestown Festival in the calendar, both Jeff Kidder – who beat Teahupoo, incidentally – and Saldier contested the O'Driscoll's Irish Whiskey Juvenile Hurdle, a Grade 2 staged at Fairyhouse’s Easter Festival Interestingly, Petite Parisienne also ran at the same meeting, finishing runner-up against older mares in the Grade 1 novice hurdle over 2m4f

And, although it doesn’t feature among the Leading Ten-Year Guides, form of the Anniversary 4-Y-O Juvenile Hurdle at Aintree was previously worth noting. Between 2002 and 2016, no fewer than six of the 15 winners had run in the Grade 1 at the Grand National meeting, with Quazar (2002) and Apple’s Jade book-ending that period by being successful in Liverpool, whilst Punjabi (2007) and Barizan (2010) finished second

APRIL RUN

AS WELL as those recent winners highlighted in the past two paragraphs of the previous subsection, Sporazene (2003) won a juvenile hurdle at Ayr’s Scottish Grand National fixture, so 10 of the past 21 winners had run during the month of April Therefore, don’t assume that this race will come too soon for horses with a similar profile this year

GRADED RACE FORM

FORM in Graded company is almost essential when assessing the Champion Four Year Old Hurdle and the past 17 winners had run in a Graded contest on their most recent start. Earlier this century, the likes of Holy Orders (2001), Sporazene (2003) and United (2005) all arrived at Punchestown on the back of winning either a maiden or novice hurdle, but since then, all 17 winners had run in Graded company on their latest start, with 14 of those having run in a Grade 1.

OTHER CONNECTIONS TO NOTE

ASIDE from Willie Mullins (covered in an earlier subsection), Nicky Henderson is the only trainer to have won this race more than once since 2005, with the UK-based handler sending out Punjabi (2007), Grandouet (2011) and more recently, Fusil Raffles to victory. Henderson also saddled Katarino to win in 1999 and since then, he has only had nine runners in the race so he boasts a fantastic strike-rate. Having been forced to miss the Triumph, the unbeaten Sir Gino returned from a short break to win the Anniversary at Aintree, where he looked as though he would come forward for the run, so it is possible that he could head to Punchestown. Henderson didn't seem overly keen on the idea in his post-race interview, however, suggesting that his entry in this race was more of a precaution should things go wrong in Liverpool.

Henderson’s two latest winners carried the silks of owners Simon Munir & Isaac Souede, who saw Zarak The Brave finish runner-up and Nusret finish fourth in their double green silks last year Business Sivola was another runner-up for the owners in 2015 and a record of two wins and two seconds (from six runners) is a fine record during the past 12 renewals

Owner Susannah Ricci had seven runners without success between 2012 and 2016 (in 2013 Blood Cotil finished 2nd and Dogora 3rd , whilst Let’s Dance also finished runner-up in 2016) before her fortunes turned in 2017. Since then, the leading owner has had four runners in the race and all four have been successful. Bapaume, Saldier, Vauban and Lossiemouth have proven successful in her famous pink and vivid green-spotted silks and runners carrying these colours, therefore, warrant plenty of respect.

KARGESE CHASES HOME MAJBOROUGH IN THE TRIUMPH

ROLL OF HONOUR

LEADING TEN-YEAR GUIDES

Triumph Hurdle 7 (Abbyssial Fell, Petite Parisienne 5th , Apple’s Jade 2nd , Bapaume 3rd , Saldier 5th , Vauban 1st , Lossiemouth 1st)

Spring Juvenile Hurdle 4 (Petite Parisienne 1st , Bapaume 2nd , Vauban 1st , Lossiemouth 2nd)

Mercedes-Benz South Dublin Juvenile Hurdle 4 (Apple’s Jade 1st , Bapaume 1st , Jeff Kidder 7th , Lossiemouth 1st)

Bar One Racing Juvenile Hurdle 2 (Bapaume 2nd , Lossiemouth 1st)

O'Driscoll's Irish Whiskey Juvenile Hurdle 2 (Saldier 3rd , Jeff Kidder 1st)

Tote.ie 3-Y-O Maiden Hurdle 2 (Petite Parisienne 2nd , Vauban 2nd)

* denotes previous season

Grade 1 Entries

Day One

(3:40) KPMG CHAMPION NOVICE HURDLE

(Grade 1) €73,750.00 (2m 100y - 5yo+)

Absurde (FR) (144) (WPMullins) 11,12

Anotherway (FR) (WPMullins) 11,12

Asian Master (143) (WPMullins) 11,12

Ballyburn (163) (WPMullins) 11,12

Billericay Dickie (WPMullins) 11,12

Daddy Long Legs (FR) (135) (WPMullins) 11,12

Down Memory Lane (GElliott) 11,12

Fascile Mode (132) (TMullins) 11,12

Firefox (145) (GElliott) 11,12

Ile Atlantique (FR) (147) (WPMullins) 11,12

Jimmy Du Seuil (FR) (149) (WPMullins) 11,12

King Of Kingsfield (140) (GElliott) 11,12

Mirazur West (138) (WPMullins) 11,12

Mistergif (FR) (141) (WPMullins) 11,12 Mystical Power (147) (WPMullins) 11,12 Rath Gaul Boy (WPMullins) 11,12 Slade Steel (150) (HdeBromhead) 11,12

Tounsivator (FR)(WPMullins) 11,12

Tullyhill (FR) (149) (WPMullins) 11,12

Western Diego (WPMullins) 11,12

Brighterdaysahead (FR) (141) (GElliott) 11,05

Fun Fun Fun (134) (WPMullins) 11,05

(5:25) WILLIAM HILL CHAMPION CHASE (Grade 1) €177,000.00 (2m - 5yo+)

Appreciate It (153) (WPMullins)

Ash Tree Meadow (FR) (159) (GElliott) 11,12

Banbridge (161) (JPO'Brien) 11,12 Captain Guinness (164) (HdeBromhead) 11,12

Dysart Dynamo (152) (WPMullins) 11,12

El Fabiolo (FR) (175) (WPMullins) 11,12

Fil Dor (FR) (150) (GElliott)

Gentleman De Mee (FR) (162) (WPMullins) 11,12

Jonbon (FR) (NHenderson) 11,12

Saint Sam (FR) (163) (WPMullins) 11,12

Dinoblue (FR) (158) (WPMullins) 11,05

Maskada (FR) (147) (HdeBromhead) 11,05

(6:00) DOOLEY INSURANCE

CHAMPION NOVICE CHASE (Grade 1) €73,750.00 (3m 60y - 5yo+)

American Mike (147) (GElliott) 11,10

Corbetts Cross (157) (EMullins) 11,10

Embassy Gardens (GB) (150) (WPMullins) 11,10

Favori De Champdou (FR) (144) (GElliott) 11,10

Heart Wood (FR) (148) (HdeBromhead) 11,10

Inothewayurthinkin (156) (GCromwell) 11,10

Intense Raffles (FR) (151) (TGibney) 11,10

Joyeux Machin (FR) (136) (PNolan) 11,10

Minella Cocooner (151) (WPMullins) 11,10

Mister Policeman (FR) (149) (WPMullins) 11,10

Monty's Star (150) (HdeBromhead) 11,10 Nick Rockett (146) (WPMullins) 11,10 Salvador Ziggy (153) (GElliott) 11,10

Sandor Clegane (145) (PNolan) 11,10

Senecia (VLHalley) 11,10

Sharjah (FR) (145) (WPMullins) 11,10

Spillane's Tower (150) (JJMangan) 11,10

Tactical Move (145) (WPMullins) 11,10

Three Card Brag (GElliott) 11,10

Grade 1 Entries

Day Two

(4:15) CHANNOR GROUP NOVICE HURDLE

(Grade 1) €73,750.00 (2m 7f 180y - 4yo+)

An Tobar (GB) (138) (HdeBromhead) 11,10

Backmersackme (EMullins) 11,10

Better Days Ahead (145) (GElliott) 11,10

Billericay Dickie (WPMullins) 11,10 Captain Cody (WPMullins) 11,10

Chapeau De Soleil (WPMullins) 11,10

Croke Park (GElliott) 11,10

Dancing City (FR) (148) (WPMullins) 11,10

Easy Fella (135) (HdeBromhead) 11,10

Gold Dancer (FR) (WPMullins) 11,10

High Class Hero (GB) (WPMullins) 11,10

I Love My Baie (FR) (SRBCrawford) 11,10

I Will Be Baie (FR) (WPMullins) 11,10 Lecky Watson (143) (WPMullins) 11,10 Loughglynn (140) (WPMullins) 11,10 Mossy Fen Park (HdeBromhead) 11,10

Olympic Man (FR) (137) (WPMullins) 11,10

O'Moore Park (135) (WPMullins) 11,10

Predators Gold (FR) (147) (WPMullins) 11,10

Quai De Bourbon (FR) (142)(WPMullins) 11,10

Readin Tommy Wrong (WPMullins) 11,10 Search For Glory (139) (GElliott) 11,10

Staffordshire Knot (GElliott) 11,10

Stellar Story (149) (GElliott) 11,10

Twoohthree (GElliott) 11,10

What Path (FR) (133) (WPMullins) 11,10

Cuta Des As (FR) (WPMullins) 11,03

Look To The West (132) (HdeBromhead) 11,03

(4:50) RACE & STAY AT PUNCHESTOWN INH FLAT RACE

(Grade 1) €59,000.00 (2m 70y - 4-7yo)

(5:25) LADBROKES

PUNCHESTOWN GOLD CUP (Grade 1) €177,000.00 (3m 30y - 5yo+)

(161) (JPO'Brien)

Bravemansgame (FR) (PNicholls) 11,10 Capodanno (FR) (161) (WPMullins) 11,10

(162) (GElliott)

Rambler (LRussell) 11,10

Work (FR) (153) (GElliott) 11,10 Fastorslow (FR) (170) (MBrassil) 11,10

Galopin Des Champs (FR) (180) (WPMullins) 11,10 Galvin (GElliott) 11,10

Gentlemansgame (GB) (160) (MFMorris) 11,10

Gerri Colombe (FR) (170) (GElliott) 11,10 Hewick (169) (JJHanlon) 11,10

I Am Maximus (FR) (164) (WPMullins) 11,10

Journey With Me (162) (HdeBromhead) 11,10

Jungle Boogie (153) (HdeBromhead) 11,10

Mahler Mission (155) (JCMcConnell) 11,10 Monkfish (156) (WPMullins) 11,10

Shishkin (NHenderson) 11,10

Hens Tooth (WPMullins) 12,00

Jalon D'oudairies (FR) (GElliott) 12,00

Jasmin De Vaux (FR) (WPMullins) 12,00

My Great Mate (WPMullins) 12,00

Olympy

Stattler (158) (WPMullins) 11,10

Grade 1 Entries

Day Three

(5:25) BARBERSTOWN CASTLE

NOVICE CHASE

(Grade 1)

€73,750.00 (2m - 5yo+)

Blood Destiny (FR) (150) (WPMullins) 11,12

Captains Nephew (132) (PJRothwell) 11,12

Found A Fifty (155) (GElliott) 11,12

Gaelic Warrior (GER) (165) (WPMullins) 11,12

Hercule Du Seuil (FR) (150) (WPMullins) 11,12

Il Etait Temps (FR) (154) (WPMullins) 11,12

Mister Policeman (FR) (149) (WPMullins) 11,12

Mount Frisco (118) (JPRyan) 11,12

Quilixios (GB) (HdeBromhead) 11,12

Senecia (VLHalley) 11,12

Sharjah (FR) (145) (WPMullins) 11,12

Uncle Phil (149) (WPMullins) 11,12

Silent Approach (135) (CO'Keeffe) 11,05

(6:00) LADBROKES

CHAMPION STAYERS HURDLE (Grade 1) €177,000.00 (2m 7f 130y - 4yo+)

Asterion Forlonge (FR) (152) (WPMullins) 11,10

Beacon Edge (140) (GElliott) 11,10

Buddy One (153) (PJGilligan) 11,10

Champ (NHenderson) 11,10

Dashel Drasher (GB) (JScott) 11,10

Franciscan Rock (135) (MFMorris) 11,10

Hiddenvalley Lake (149) (HdeBromhead) 11,10

Home By The Lee (155) (JPO'Brien) 11,10

Irish Point (FR) (158) (GElliott) 11,10

Monkfish (152) (WPMullins) 11,10

No Looking Back (138) (OMcKiernan) 11,10

Noble Yeats (152) (EMullins) 11,10

Sir Gerhard (155) (WPMullins) 11,10

Sire Du Berlais (FR) (152) (GElliott) 11,10

Summerville Boy (140) (HdeBromhead) 11,10

Teahupoo (FR) (161) (GElliott) 11,10

Lantry Lady (FR) (HdeBromhead) 11,03

Telmesomethinggirl (144) (HdeBromhead) 11,03

Whatcouldhavebeen (137)(JPFahey) 11,03

Grade 1 Entries

Day Four

(6:00) BOODLES CHAMPION HURDLE

(Grade 1) €177,000.00 (2m - 4yo+ )

Bob Olinger (161) (HdeBromhead) 11,12

Colonel Mustard (FR) (148) (MrsLFowler) 11,12

Impaire Et Passe (FR) (160) (WPMullins) 11,12

Irish Point (FR) (158) (GElliott) 11,12

Sir Gerhard (155) (WPMullins) 11,12

State Man (FR) (169) (WPMullins) 11,12

Lossiemouth (FR) (155) (WPMullins) 11,05

(6:35) ALANNA HOMES

CHAMPION NOVICE HURDLE (Grade 1) €73,750.00 (2m 3f 80y - 4yo+)

Gold Dancer (FR) (WPMullins) 11,12 I Will Be Baie (FR) (WPMullins) 11,12

Ile Atlantique (FR) (147) (WPMullins) 11,12

Jeriko Du Reponet (FR) (NHenderson) 11,12

Jimmy Du Seuil (FR) (149) (WPMullins) 11,12 Jingko Blue (FR) (NHenderson) 11,12

Hill (130) (PJGilligan) 11,12

West (138) (WPMullins) 11,12

(FR) (141) (WPMullins) 11,12

Park (135) (WPMullins)

Grade 1 Entries

Day Five

(3:40) COOLMORE IRISH EBF MARES CHAMPION HURDLE

(Grade 1) €73,750.00 (2m 3f 30y - 4yo+)

Anna Bunina (FR) (138) (JCMcConnell) 11,07

Ashroe Diamond (144) (WPMullins) 11,07

Brandy Love (WPMullins) 11,07

Brighterdaysahead (FR) (141) (GElliott) 11,07

Gala Marceau (FR) (140) (WPMullins) 11,07

Hispanic Moon (FR) (140) (HdeBromhead) 11,07

Jetara (140) (MrsJHarrington) 11,07

Kilbree Warrior (122) (OMcKiernan) 11,07

Lantry Lady (FR) (HdeBromhead) 11,07

Lossiemouth (FR) (155) (WPMullins) 11,07

Luccia (GB) (NHenderson) 11,07

Party Central (140) (GElliott) 11,07

Telmesomethinggirl (144) (HdeBromhead) 11,07

Kala Conti (FR) (130) (GElliott) 11,01

(4:50) BALLYMORE CHAMPION FOUR YEAR OLD HURDLE (Grade 1) €73,750.00 (2m - 4yo)

Batman Girac (FR) (130) (WPMullins) 11,00

Bottler'secret (143) (GCromwell) 11,00

Bunting (FR) (137) (WPMullins) 11,00

Eastern Legend (JSBolger) 11,00

Highwind (FR) (128) (WPMullins) 11,00

Immutable (JGMurphy) 11,00

Intellotto (JPO'Brien) 11,00

Kalif Du Berlais (FR) (PNicholls) 11,00

Karl Des Tourelles (FR) (134) (PFenton) 11,00

Nurburgring (136) (JPO'Brien) 11,00

Sir Gino (FR) (NHenderson) 11,00

Storm Heart (FR) (138) (WPMullins) 11,00

Kala Conti (FR) (130) (GElliott) 10,07

Kargese (FR) (134) (WPMullins) 10,07

Karia Des Blaises (FR) (123) (WPMullins) 10,07

Miss Manzor (GB) (127) (WPMullins) 10,07