King kicks off Punchestown entries
Cheltenham Gold Cup hero Kicking King is one of a clutch of big names among the possible runners at this month’s Punchestown Festival after entries for nine of the 10 Grade One races were revealed today.
The meeting, known as the Irish National Hunt Festival, runs from April 26 to 29, with the feature event being the Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup.
Aside from the Tom Taaffe-trained Kicking King, among the 15 entries are four from Britain, including Kingscliff, who was vying for favouritism at Cheltenham before being withdrawn close to the race.
Paul Nicholls has put in the Daily Telegraph Chase winner Thisthatandtother as well as Le Roi Miguel and Grand National runner-up Royal Auclair.
The peerless Moscow Flyer is likely to scare off his opponents again as he is one of only eight entered for the Kerrygold Champion Chase, a race he won last year.
However, more competitive should be the Emo Oil Champion Hurdle on the final day of the meeting.
Included in the 11 possibles at this stage are Harchibald, Brave Inca, Accordion Etoile, Macs Joy, Intersky Falcon and Al Eile, who occupied second, third, fourth, fifth, sixth and seventh in the Smurfit Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham last month.
Other highlights could be the appearance of two of J P McManus’s Aintree winners, Like-A-Butterfly and Fota Island, in the Swordlestown Cup, while the popular mare Solerina, who has not raced since February, could reappear in the Ballymore Properties Champion Stayers’ Hurdle.
There is record prize money of 2.127 million at this year’s meeting.
Dick O’Sullivan, Punchestown’s general manager, said: “The Festival has gone from strength to strength in recent years and we are delighted that locally-based heroes such as Moscow Flyer, Kicking King and Harchibald are set to be joined at this year’s Festival by a very strong overseas entry for the early-closing races, from no less than 18 different trainers based in Britain and France.
“Added to the current unprecedented strength in depth of Irish-trained talent, this promises to make the 2005 Festival an unmissable event.”
