Hurricane Fly and Solwhit pride of Punchestown
I know betting was way down, over €3.5m with the bookmakers and nearly €1.5m on the tote, but that was only to be expected.
One bookmaker put it delightfully for me late in the week, as he continued to smile in the face of mounting adversity.
He said: “This recession is so bad that even the fellows who won’t pay are halving their bets!”
The overall attendance suffered as well, of course, but again there couldn’t be any great surprise about that.
Some 95,000 paid through the gates for the week, including a massive 28,000 plus on Friday, down about 10,000 on last year, and that hardly constituted a disaster.
Who knows what difference the 3.45 starts on the first four days made. I’d say they were neither of any great benefit, nor a dismal failure.
Anyway, we could argue all day about starting times, attendances and the betting, but where there is surely no argument is that the quality of racing at Punchestown was quite superb.
The big plus was the ground. It was the end of a long season and a decent ease in the surface was absolutely vital in attracting many of the big names.
It was a meeting which revealed that, once again, we have horses who can be regarded as live candidates for the Champion Hurdle next March in Hurricane Fly and Solwhit.
This year we could not get anything into the first four in the Champion Hurdle, but that’s a situation certain to be rectified should those two arrive at Cheltenham fit and well.
Hurricane Fly won with any amount in hand and you just can’t wait for him to step out of novice and into open company.
Solwhit is nowhere near as flash as Hurricane Fly, but is one of those horses who gets the job done and his defeat of champion hurder Punjabi speaks for itself.
The way he dug deep at Punchestown, and at Aintree prior to that, would indicate the hill at Cheltenham might be a fair old plus.
What to make of Master Minded! We can find whatever excuses we like, but his scrambling defeat of Big Zeb raised yet more questions.
He wasn't at his best when winning at Cheltenham either, but is likely to have Free World making the running for him next season and, maybe, that will be the answer!
Dunguib followed his hugely impressive success at Cheltenham with another smooth display at Punchestown.
The layers, for reasons best known to themselves, were determined to get him and went as high as 11-10. They lived to regret such largesse.
Some of the prices on offer afterwards, however, about Dunguib for the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, were almost amusing.
We know horses like him don’t come around very often and he seems to have it all. But until we actually see Dunguib jumping out on the track then it is best to resist all offers.
Don’t forget Cousin Vinny won both the Cheltenham and Punchestown bumpers last year, but ended this campaign without scoring at either of the meetings.
Like Dunguib, bookmakers went after Mikael d’Haguenet as well, although not quite to the same extent.
There was a lot of money for Cousin Vinny against him, on the back of some spectacular homework, but Mikael dismissed his challenge fairly easily.
The week essentially belonged to Willie Mullins and Ruby Walsh and to have 12 and 10 winners respectively was remarkable.
Mullins has an astonishing array of talent at his disposal and how he is going to fit in his novice chasers next season will be fascinating to watch.
His Fiveforthree, Mikael d’Haguenet, Cousin Vinny, Quel Esprit and Jessie’s Dream, among many others, are all going over fences.
From a punting point of view, Punchestown could hardly have worked out any better. A colleague, who was betting off course for the five days, summed it up best.
After Mikael d’Haguenet and Solwhit had both won on Friday, he sent me a text. It read as follows: “If this is what a recession is all about, long may it continue.”
Roll on Galway, I say.
