Ruby Walsh: Energumene's stamina can prove decisive
Paul Townend savours the moment after steering Energumene to victory in the Champion Chase at Cheltenham last month. Picture: Healy Racing.
2020 didn’t exist, and 2021 was a pale shadow of what Punchestown can be. 2022 promises a lot, but not everything is as it was.
The traditional curtain-raiser over Punchestown’s unique cross-country course has been moved to the seventh race on Tuesday afternoon’s card and so, for the first time that I can remember, the Ladies’ Cup will not open proceedings. But its replacement won’t be any easier to solve.
The Howden Insurance Brookers Mares Hurdle is ultra-tricky, with two of Willie Mullins’ mares, Dinoblue and Grangee, coming here off the back of decent runs at Fairyhouse’s Easter meeting but having also been to Cheltenham. It is impossible to judge how fresh they are, but it would leave both open to being vulnerable to the fresher Party Central, from Gordon Elliott’s yard. Davy Russell is also reunited with the Elliott filly, which cannot be a negative.
I have always been a Sir Gerhard fan, but Tuesday's test will be interesting. The first Grade One is the Bective Stud Champion Novice Hurdle, and while only five go to post, I feel this is a race many will want to watch.
Sir Gerhard was dominant in the Ballymore and will look to round off a perfect season in style but dropping back to two miles to take on his stablemate Dysart Dynamo, who was selected for the two-mile race at Cheltenham, will pose its difficulties.
Dysart Dynamo was his own worst enemy in the Supreme, blitzing forward from the second hurdle and setting a pace he was always going to struggle to maintain. Being back on home soil in a smaller field might solve that issue.
The Kilashee Hotel Handicap Hurdle was run at a furious pace 12 months ago, and 18 runners will probably reenact that with a host of front-runners in the line-up. A selection from those would be Ardla, but if those at the front go too fast and a closer from the back is required, then Glan is the choice to repeat her Fairyhouse win of 10 days ago.
The day one feature at 5.25 is the William Hill Champion Chase, where at the time of writing it was 4-5 Energumene, 11-8 Chacun Pour Soi, and 12-1 bar.
Paul Townend won’t have surprised many by sticking with Energumene, but his facile Champion Chase victory was definitely aided by the no-show of Shishkin and the departure of Chacun at the ninth.
Chacun has eight wins from nine starts in Ireland but zero from three in the UK, so believing he operates best on home soil is a fair thought process. I thought he looked on song before standing on himself as he landed at the ninth in Cheltenham and I believe he will make Energumene work to follow and get by him.
However, I expect Energumene to do that and feel his stamina will win out somewhere between the last two fences.
At 6pm, only 16 of the horses offered at the Goffs Land Rover Sale will line up for the bumper, which they qualified for after being sold at that sale. I don’t know where the rest are but turning down the chance to win a confined race worth €100,000 is a luxury and, with no penalties attached to this contest, Irish Envoy would look like the obvious pick. He won well at Naas and would carry 7lbs more in an ordinary winners’ event.
The Dooley Insurance Group Novice Chase will follow them onto the track at 6.35pm, where Bob Olinger will look to continue his unbeaten run over fences. He looked beaten at Cheltenham but jumping racing requires you to complete, and he did that. However, he wears a first-time tongue tie, and while the step up in trip could suit, Capodanno is my choice to reverse their January clash at this venue.
The amateur riders round out the card with the Ladies’ Cup at 7.10pm and the four-year-old bumper at 7.45pm. It’s only the end of day one, and with four more days to come, there are more straightforward selections to offer in the days ahead, but Jody Townend has found a way of hoodwinking Patrick Mullins so Vadsa Queen could be worth a look in the last.
