Punchestown festival day one tips: Dinoblue can get back to winning ways
BIG CONTENDER: Dinoblue can make the most of the mares’ allowance she receives from Banbridge and Gentleman De Mee. Picture: Morgan Treacy/Inpho
The 2024 Punchestown festival gets underway on Tuesday afternoon with a 2.30pm start and Dinoblue rates the nap on the card. Willie Mullins’ runner contests the William Hill Champion Chase, one of the three Grade Ones on the card, and she can get back to winning ways following her runner-up finishes at Cheltenham and, prior to that, at the Dublin Racing Festival.
At Cheltenham, she came up a little shy behind Limerick Lace but may have been a shade unlucky that day. She is capable of better, won’t have any issue with the quicker ground if the rain stays away, and she can make the most of the mares’ allowance she receives from her main dangers, Banbridge and Gentleman De Mee.
The meeting’s first Grade One is the KPMG Champion Novice Hurdle and it looks quite a difficult one to unravel. Slade Steel and Mystical Power, who finished first and second respectively in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle, are obvious players, but Tullyhill, who underperformed in the same race, could be a value alternative.
Willie Mullins’ six-year-old was beaten at 1-8 on his first start over hurdles but won a Navan maiden on his next start and then came here for a listed race, which he also won with little fuss. He was disappointing at Cheltenham but could be better suited to this track. Runner-up to A Dream To Share at this meeting in 2023, he certainly has the ability to play a leading role and if allowed to bowl along in front, he could be hard to pick up. The better the ground, the stronger his claims.
Slade Steel was no match for Ballyburn when runner-up in a Grade One at the Dublin Racing Festival but the decision to avoid that rival bore fruit at Cheltenham. There is more to come from him, and he deserves maximum respect. Mystical Power, who made his debut in a Ballinrobe bumper and who made a winning debut over hurdles at the Galway festival, won here in January before finishing runner-up to Slade Steel in the Supreme. He went one place better at Aintree, touching off Firefox, who re-opposes, and if this isn’t one festival too many, he will be involved in the finish.
The Grade One Dooley Insurance Group Champion Novice Chase is fiercely competitive, but Monty’s Star posted a career-best effort last time out, when runner-up to Fact To File in the Brown Advisory at the Cheltenham Festival and can go one place better. A good jumper and a strong stayer, he is open to improvement and his proven stamina can count against recent Grade One winner Spillane’s Tower, who is trying the trip for the first time. American Mike is better than he showed in the Brown Advisory and has strong each-way claims.
2:30 Transprint
3:05 The Lovely Man (NB)
3:40 Tullyhill
4:15 Daddy Long Legs
4:50 King Rasko Grey
5:25 Dinoblue (Nap)
6:00 Monty’s Star
6:35 Unknown Entity
2:30 Wine An Dine
3:05 Al Kailia
3:40 Slade Steel
4:15 Cossack Chach
4:50 Garahon
5:25 Gentleman De Mee
6:00 Spillane’s Tower
6:35 Attaho
