Kimi De Mai can open Irish account at Punchestown
CLASSY PROSPECT: Bambino Fever didn't do much wrong when touched off by Oldschool Outlaw on her hurdling debut at Naas and can get back to winning ways at Punchestown on Monday. Picture: Healy Racing
Denied a good opportunity due to the cancellation of Fairyhouse on Saturday, Bambino Fever should prove the star of Monday’s action at Punchestown.
The Willie Mullins-trained mare, last season’s top bumper performer, was beaten at 1-4 on her hurdling bow in Naas last month but has a golden opportunity to make amends in the Matchbook 50:50 Graduation Series Maiden Hurdle.
The six-year-old Jukebox Jury mare went unbeaten in four bumpers last term, kicking off at Punchestown on New Year’s Eve.
She followed-up when proving too strong for Switch From Diesel in the Grade Two mares’ event at the Dublin Racing Festival.
Then, taking on gelding for the first time and with Jody Townend again onboard, she landed the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at Cheltenham, beating Heads Up.
And she ended her season when gaining a second Grade One success, in the Race & Stay Bumper at the Punchestown festival, where she accounted for Switch From Diesel again.
Long odds-on for her hurdling debut in Naas, she didn’t do a lot wrong, going down by a half-length to Oldschool Outlaw, who had won a listed bumper in Navan on her previous start, the pair finishing clear of subsequent winner Radiator Springs.
Although not a betting proposition today, at a skimpy price, Bambino Fever will be expected to advertise her credentials for her chosen target at Cheltenham.
The Mullins-trained Kimi De Mai, fifth in that same Naas maiden won by Oldschool Outlaw, is a confident choice to open her account in the later Matchbook 50:50 Graduation Series Maiden Hurdle.
Unbeaten in two starts in France and a beaten, odds-on favourite on her stable debut when third to Sixandahalf at Fairyhouse last January, this mare was considered good enough to contest the Ryanair Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle but failed to make an impression.
She shaped with promise in Naas and has been found a good opportunity here.
In the mares’ bumper, both Cullentra and Closutton will be strongly-represented, by newcomer Fancy Fox and point-to-point winner How’s Hannah respectively.
But preference is for Joseph O’Brien’s Fastnet Crystal, beaten a half-length by Lennon Grove at Thurles before Christmas.
12.48 Madness d’Elle
1.18 Zuzukel
1.48 Bambino Fever
2.18 Sean Mc
2.48 Kimi De Mai (Nap)
3.18 Folly Master
3.48 Fastnet Crystal (NB)
12.48 Deep Water Bay
1.18 Where Are You Now
1.48 Poetisa
2.18 Kazbek
2.48 Shabby Hill
3.18 Lough Nigara
3.48 Fancy Fox
