WHERE else to start today but with the Ladbrokes Punchestown Gold Cup, the best race of the week.
It’s the rematch between Gaelic Warrior and Fact To File – there’s shades of Dawn Run and Buck House 40 years on from their famous match race.
This pair have met three times already this season and the score so far is 2-1 to Gaelic Warrior. They met once as novices, at Leopardstown two years ago, when Fact To File literally put Gaelic Warrior on the floor.
It’s a fascinating renewal of this rivalry, and despite Gaelic Warrior winning the Cheltenham Gold Cup, my head says that Fact To File has more to give. Despite Gaelic Warrior outgunning him and outbattling him in the John Durkan Chase last November, I still think Fact To File has the measure of Gaelic Warrior, as he did in the Irish Gold Cup at the Dublin Racing Festival.
Maybe I just need to start giving Gaelic Warrior the credit he deserves, but this race will really prove the point.
I think Fact To File has more to give today
Yes, there are five runners, but there are only two that matter in this. Gaelic Warrior to set the pace, Fact To File to follow, and hopefully he gets past him today.
The Grade One Channor Real Estate Novice Hurdle over three miles at 4.15, is a wide-open affair.
It features a mare that is on the up after completing a five-time winning sequence at Fairyhouse at Easter. Zanoosh is receiving seven pounds from the geldings and given her rating that should give her a very good chance of beating them this time around.
Doctor Steinberg needs to settle better, he’s got the hood on to help. The Passing Wife and Fruit De Mer both ran well at Cheltenham but Zanoosh is a mare on the improve. She is from the yard of Wexford trainer Colm Murphy who had Impervious and Voler La Vedette in the past – he knows what a good mare looks like and I think he has another one on his hands here.
It’s wonderful to see Noel Meade with a proper horse over jumps once again. He’s been a force on the flat of late but when I was growing up, Noel Meade was the perennial champion National Hunt trainer, and with The Mourne Rambler I think he has another very good horse.
He was very impressive at Leopardstown over Christmas and he backed that up in the Cheltenham Bumper under Colin Keane.
It’s a big ride for Declan Lavery to get, but I believe The Mourne Rambler is the real deal, and I expect him to prove it in the Champion Bumper, another Grade One, at 4.50.
The opening race is the Adare Manor Series Final and I have a fancy for Radiator Springs for Henry de Bromhead and Patrick O’Brien, who teamed up to good effect when winning with Air Of Entitlement at the Cheltenham festival.
This mare ran very well behind Jet To Monte Carlo at Fairyhouse at Easter – the quicker ground is a question mark as she is unproven on that, I think given her connections and her rating of 119, there is more to come.
She’s got plenty of experience in the point-to-point field, and I think Radiator Springs will be an interesting one in the 2.30.
In the Red Mills Auction Hurdle Final I really like the look of L’Evangeliste for Eric McNamara, the Limerick trainer.
This horse is very smart, he won his Galway maiden hurdle and followed up at Fairyhouse in November. He hasn’t been seen since but it wouldn’t be surprised if he was laid out for this race.
He missed the spring festivals for some unknown reason, but he’s got a rating of 130 and I think he’s probably a graded horse here in a conditions race.
I think L’Evangeliste here for Sean Flanagan and Eric McNamara will be hard to beat in the 3.05.
In the Louis Fitzgerald Hotel Hurdle, I’m going for Quinta Do Lago. He ran with credit in the Fred Winter at Cheltenham where he was actually fourth jumping the last hurdle, and faded to fifth on the run up to the line behind Saratoga. But before that he was third behind Proactif and Macho Man in a juvenile hurdle at Fairyhouse. I think his juvenile form is very strong and Jessica Harrington rarely leaves Punchestown without a winner.
This guy is getting a four-year-old allowance, so he’s actually receiving weight from horses he should be giving weight to, so Quinta Do Lago will do for me in the 3.40.
In the Colm Quinn BMW Handicap Chase, King Alexander is the choice of Paul Townend and just look at his form from Cheltenham. He was fourth behind Meetmebythesea in the Golden Miller, also known as the Jack Richards Chase these days; the second horse was the sadly ill-fated Gold Dancer who won the Grade One at Aintree, and the third horse is Regent’s Stroll, who was second in that Aintree race. The fifth horse was Kiss Will who ran well in the Irish Grand National subsequently, so the form really stands up.
Paul Townend would have had the choice of any of Willie Mullins’ five runners here and he’s gone for King Alexander, and I think he’s picked the right one.
In the closing Weatherbys Mares Bumper, a filly called Even Tho has caught my eye.
She was going to win her point-to-point at Dromahane when she was clear and fell at the last; she then won a bumper in Limerick for Patrick and Willie Mullins. She wasn’t all that impressive but I thought she was learning on the job.
She beat a more experienced rival, and while it’s a concern that Patrick has picked Glens Anthem ahead of her, Jody Townend has a habit of coming out with a good race at the Punchestown Festival and that will make her price that little bit more attractive.
