The first four-day Punchestown National Hunt festival kicks off this afternoon featuring a typically competitive card, with a penalty prizemoney value of £200,000.
The traditional Punchestown banks get an outing in the first race and the more modern feature of a strong British challenge is also illustrated with seven horses trained there bidding for a slice of the prizemoney.
Indeed four of the six runners in the featured £55,000 BMW Chase are visitors. They are headed by the Liverpool winner, Direct Route, who has to give weight away to some smart types, including last year's winner, Big Matt.
Direct Route completed a different Liverpool-Punchestown double of his own 12 months ago, and arguably his Tingle Creek success at Sandown during the winter was the most impressive performance by a two-miler all season.
A less then ideal preparation for Cheltenham did for his chances in the Queen Mother Champion Chase, but he did OK to finish third to Call Equiname. He then showed his true form with a defeat of Mulligan and Call Equiname at Liverpool. However, Direct Route is also a horse who can stop if hitting the front too soon. So although difficult to oppose, it may not be wise to take too short a price. The other big Grade One pot is the Country Pride Champion Novice Hurdle, where just five go. It would be unwise to dismiss lightly the British challenge in this, too. Nicky Henderson has been very patient with Bacchanal, and this handsome gelding has repaid him with victories at Sandown and Chepstow. However, it still goes against the grain to oppose the home grown Cardinal Hill. A glitch at the second-last flight at Cheltenham when unseating his rider is the only thing that he has really done wrong this season, and he showed that took nothing out of him with a silky smooth win at Fairyhouse.
The other graded race is the Bradstock Insurance Novice Chase, which is an all-home affair but also with a small field.
Manus The Man ran a fine race for a novice in the Irish Grand National when third to Glebe Lad, but this will be no easy consolation for him. Indeed, preference is for Micko's Dream, third to Rince Ri and Promalee in the Power Gold Cup and a horse who relishes soft ground and a small field.
The Coral Cup flop, Ferbert Junior, is likely to force the pace, but he has fallen in the past, and ridden patiently, this race could unfold perfectly for Micko's Dream. Mullins runs five in the hugely competitive Evening Herald Handicap Hurdle and his Mary's Manna makes a lot of appeal as an each-way selection. This one was running on well behind Nuzum Road Makers at Fairyhouse and will relish the soft ground. Enda Bolger has his penultimate racecourse ride on Tearaway King in the opener and this proven banks horse and last year's winner is impossible to oppose. In contrast to 36-year-old Bolger, Tom Magnier, son of the Coolmore Stud supremo John Mangier, is in the very early stages of a riding career and he takes the mount on the unraced Bill Bailey in the bumper.
The Aidan O'Brien-trained horse could be anything but Tom Taaffe's string are in good form and preference is for his Secret Native. The winning point-to-pointer Endless Magic looks another to consider. The visitors could also take the handicap chase courtesy of Ferdie Murphy's Musselburgh and Carlisle winner, Ardrina.
Adrian Maguire will ride Dorans Pride in the Heineken Gold Cup at Punchestown tomorrow. He replaces Paul Carberry, who is in Cashel Hospital recovering from emergency surgery.
Kim Bailey yesterday announced he is to sell his yard in Lambourn and set up a new operation in Northamptonshire.
