Day two of the Punchestown Festival has no fewer than four Grade 1 races but today we will look at two of them.
First of all it will be the 2.10pm Ladbrokes Dublin Chase where Willie Mullins currently has two of the first two entries in Gaelic Warrior and Energumene. The Ricci owned Gaelic Warrior was runner up in his first run this season behind Solness at the Leopardstown Christmas Festival. Whether you can draw a line through that line of form with it being extremely foggy as well as its seasonal debut time will tell but connections will hope he can build on that in Dublin. The now 7yo won the Arkle at Cheltenham after being sent off favourite with American betting sites for UK, travelling strongly throughout going on to win by 8 ½ lengths to Found A Fifty who reappears in this contest.
Energumene owned by Tony Bloom this now 11yo had been off the track for over 600 days made his comeback a winning one in the Bar One Racing Hilly Way Chase Grade 2 in Cork over December when albeit jumping right throughout won the contest by ten lengths from Dinoblue which gave connections hope the ex Grade 1 winner had retained his ability after injury. There’s no hiding that the gelding is towards the later stages of his career but this six times Grade 1 winner (2023 Cheltenham Champion Chase winner) will hope to show his younger rivals a thing or two.
Lastly for us to look at is Banbridge trained by Joseph O’Brien who won the Grade 1 Ladbrokes King George at Kempton on Boxing Day by 1 ¾ lengths to the French trained Il Est Francais going away at the end. This 9yo owned by R Bartlett has won just under 500k in prize money picking up three Grade 1 races overall. You can’t say he only wins on flat tracks like Aintree and Kempton as he’s picked up races at Punchestown and Cheltenham so he will be firmly in the mix in this contest. This looks a tricky betting race for a strong fancy but if you fancy one yourself then head over to non UK casinos to get the best odds on the race.
Betting for this: Gaelic Warrior 2/1, Energumene 2/1, Banbridge 5/1, Solness 8/1, El Fabiolo 8/1, Marine Nationale 8/1, Found A Fifty 10/1 and 16/1 bar.
The 3.20pm Irish Champion Hurdle is the second contest we will look at which if the three horses that we will look at turn up it will be a terrific renewal. We will start with last year’s winner of this race in State Man, this 8yo gelding owned by the Donnelly family has ran twice this season coming off second best to the reopposing mare Brighterdaysahead. He’s won the last two seasons of the Irish Champion Hurdle so Willie Mullins will hope he can reverse the form with the later in this contest.
Another trained by the powerful Mullins stable is Lossiemouth, this 6yo mare won the Hatton Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse over 2m 4f but was found wanting back over 2 miles at Kempton where she was 2 ½ lengths behind Constitution Hill. This five times Grade 1 winner has only been beaten twice in her career and will no doubt be popular to get back on winning form come 2nd February. She will get the 7lb weight allowance from her Stablemate State Man.
Last one for us to talk about is Brighterdaysahead, trained by Gordon Elliott. This 6yo mare was beaten in the Mares Grade 2 Novice Hurdle at last year’s Cheltenham Festival but has since gone four races unbeaten winning three Grade 1’s and one Grade 3. She has beat State Man twice this season but the first run of the season was only by ¾ lengths so the 7lb weight allowance might not be much of an advantage if you draw a line through the last race distance of 31 ¼ lengths. The Gigginstown horse is very progressive so will the two mares have the final say come race day. I personally have to be with Brighterdaysahead and think the 5/4 is a cracking price with gambling sites that accept credit cards, Id advise taking the price now before it shortens come race day.
Betting for the race: Brighterdaysahead 5/4, Lossiemouth 11/8, State Man 11/4, Anzadam 6/1, Kargese 10/1 and 33/1 bar.
Good luck with your selections and please remember to gamble responsibly.
