Three things to look out for on day three at Punchestown
Gentleman De Mee was seriously impressive when winning at Aintree earlier this month. Picture: David Davies/PA
As they say at the start of a greyhound race, ‘the hare is running, the hare is running.’ In the case of present-day horseracing, the hare is the Cheltenham Festival and it’s not just running — it’s sprinting to a five-day event.
The Jockey Club deny any final decision has yet been made but a ‘consultation group’ has been formed to examine the pros and cons of an extension and consultation groups generally avoid recommendations to retain the status quo.
One of the more prevalent of the ‘pro-five-day’ arguments is that Ireland’s big National Hunt jamboree at Punchestown runs fives days and is none the worse for it. This completely misses the point. The twin festivals are fundamentally different brands and comparisons are hazardous. For instance, look at today’s card at the Kildare track.
An opening 88-123 four-year-old handicap hurdle is followed by an extended handicap chase then a marathon across the country banks and ditches for all sorts of weird and wonderful horses.
Later in the evening there are more handicap hurdles and chases before the day concludes with a 10 grand to the winner flat race.
Sandwiched among all this mayhem are two Grade One contests, the Champion Stayers Hurdle and the two-mile novice chase.
Punchestown week wraps 28 variable races, some of them obscure and indistinct, around a dozen Grade Ones and the quality of these is usually diminished by the early vacation plans of many seasonal champions, particularly those trained in Britain.
Cheltenham week has 28 races in total, 15 of which are Grade One contests. The Jockey Club need to make up their minds if they want to risk their established quality for monied quantity.
Whatever the decision their meeting will never look like Punchestown.
While Cheltenham ponders how to make more money without diluting its brand, Punchestown rolls along happy in its place as an informal end-of-term party.
While the two Grade One races today could both be ideally deeper in terms of quality, they still remain interesting races and difficult to solve.
The Ladbrokes Stayers Hurdle has attracted a field of eight, including last year’s winner, Klassical Dream. It would have been a stronger race for the presence of Flooring Porter and Thyme Hill but neither of those show up which leaves the equally quirky Paisley Park and Klassical Dream as the more compelling contestants.
Klassical Dream is an inconsistent animal who either seems to win easily or lose meekly. He was imperious when winning this race last year under Patrick Mullins and then followed up by beating Flooring Porter at Leopardstown at Christmas.
But he has only managed a fourth and fifth place in his two starts since and even-money is a high price to pay to find out if he is in the right frame of mind today.
The 10-year-old Paisley Park seems to have been around forever but today marks his first start on Irish soil. His trainer Emma Lavelle is upbeat about her warrior’s prospects.
“Touch wood, he’s in really good order, looks great and we’ll see how it goes,” she said earlier this week. “I think Punchestown, which is a big, galloping track should suit him. He seems in really good shape, so we’ll see what happens.”
It seems counterintuitive to hope for an English win at Punchestown, but a few more of them might tempt Lavelle’s compatriots to postpone the holidays for their better horses and bring some more talent to the Punchestown party.
The second Grade One this evening is the Barberstown Castle Novice Chase over two miles.
Regrettably, there are no English challengers in the line-up but, although it would definitely have benefitted from the presence of Arkle winnerEdwardstone, this race is certainly not a case of Hamlet without the prince.
Willie Mullins has taken this contest six times on the bounce and saddles four of the seven runners this time around, including the short-priced favourite, Gentleman De Mee as well as Blue Lord, who was third in the Arkle, one place behind Gabynako who reopposes today.
If there is a future champion two-mile chaser lurking in the field it is most likely to be the rapidly improving Gentleman De Mee who, after a slowish start to his career has easily won his last three starts over fences.
Clearly, he’s always been held in high regard at home, he started favourite ahead of stablemate Galopin Des Champs in last year’s Martin Pipe and time has shown that to be a strong endorsement.
The big reveal came last time out at Aintree when he trounced Edwardstone in the Maghull Chase leading his trainer to conclude he may be a future Champion Chase candidate.
This evening we should learn that, despite bypassing the Arkle at Cheltenham, Gentleman De Mee is the best two-mile novice chaser on the islands.
