Ruby Walsh: If Punchestown was your backyard, you'd be proud too
RACING CERTAINTY: Crowds will flock to Punchestown this week Photo: Pic: INPHO/Ryan Byrne
Maybe it’s because when I was a kid in school, seven miles from Punchestown, and we got the three days, as it was then, off school, that this week excites me, but there is something about it that is ingrained in me that I love. Naas, Ballymore, Kilcullen and Kill will all come alive for the week, and when the sun shines, this is a magical racecourse.
It is a mammoth corporate beast now compared to what was on offer when Dawn Run beat Buck House 40 years ago, but that is how long I can remember being there. Writing that makes me realise I have started the back nine, but there is nothing I can do about that but look forward to what's in store for the next five days.
The mix of traditional bank races and the local hunt chase, with Grade Ones, top-end and run-of-the-mill handicaps, makes this meeting all-encompassing, and the latest addition to the programme, the Albert Bartlett Triple Crown series final, run today, even entices run-of-the-mill British handicappers. Punchestown wants everyone, includes everyone, and never sits still, wondering how to be better. They are the words of a very biased local, but if Punchestown were on your doorstep, you’d be proud of it too.
My Sunday morning prep of the card was conducted from the car park in Ballindenisk, where the Fell’s will celebrate their 100th year of hosting the United hunt point-to-point next spring. Not quite as old as Punchestown, but I did wonder if any other venue has managed to achieve the same feat, and I have no doubt that many a Punchestown winner has graced this Cork venue in the past, even if the nine who will line up for the opener, The Ladies Cup, haven’t. Willitgoahead takes a sizeable drop class from the Cheltenham Hunter Chase to this. However, he will still need the change from park fences to cross country and banks to spark his old flair if he is going to collect. Fountain House, who won last year's Bishopcourt Cup, may be a more reliable option.
Nine of the 25 going to post for that Albert Bartlett series final are British-trained runners, and this is a fiendishly difficult puzzle to solve. I will be cheering for Rakki, as Gillian has a share in him, and this race has been a target for quite a while, but with €58k on offer to the winner, you can be sure everyone has had this race in mind for this level of horse.
It is a race to watch rather than invest in, and the third at 3.40pm isn’t exactly a whole lot easier. Twenty-one head to post for this, but a few do interest me, and Paul Townend has jumped back onto Murcia after riding Karbau the last time twice they met. I have no doubt the sunshine has influenced that decision, and a drier sod will help Murcia, but Larzac caught my eye at Cork on Easter Sunday when he appeared to find 19 furlongs a little far for him. Dropping three furlongs will help, and he represents solid each-way value.
The first Grade One of the meeting crops up next at 4.15pm, and the PRL Champion Novice Hurdle looks an open renewal, seen as the Irish horses were blown out of the water in the Supreme. El Cairos fared best of these on that occasion and there is every chance he could hold that form with the rivals who were behind him in the Cotswolds, but Le Labo jumps out at me as the one who could make the most improvement. He didn't get far at Thurles on his hurdling debut, but was home for all money when he exited the contest at the last in Cork on his second run. He then had 91 days away from the track before he returned at Naas in the Kingsfurze Novice Hurdle, where he quickened well off level weights to beat the more experienced Blake by a neck, and he looks far less exposed than his eight rivals.
Kitzbuhel is reunited with Paul Townend in the Dooley Insurance Group Champion Novice Chase at 4.50pm, and only for his blip at Sandown in the Scilly Isles, he has a perfect first season over fences. He has course form, he had the speed to win the Feltam and the stamina to win the repel Final Demand in the Brown Advisory. He looks very hard to oppose, but nine are going to try, and between Oscar's Brother and Predators Gold, Kitzbuhel won’t be able to bring his B game, which can happen at this time of year.
Only five of the 20 in the Goffs Defender Bumper have ever run, and Huntin Boots looks to have the best form, having chased Our Trigger home at Gowran, but race course chatter will help find the answer to this, and that won’t happen for a few hours yet. Altesse du Luy of Willie Mullins' works nicely at home, but he has to transfer that to the track, and this contest is not for punting in my mind.
Every day at Punchestown builds to the feature race late on the card, and today's is the William Hill Champion Chase at 6.05pm. Blood Destiny and Energumene would be surprise winners, but the other three could serve us a real humdinger. Il Etait Temps was brilliant in the Champion Chase and the Tingle Creek this season, but blew out in the Clarence House. Majborough jumped poorly in the Hilly Way, looked slow at Christmas, and ran too freely at Cheltenham, but he was spectacular at the DRF.
Marine Nationale missed the Champion Chase and chased home Majborough at the DRF, but finished in front of him at Christmas. He was good here last year, too, when he backed up his Champion Chase win, but I guess the trick is figuring out who will turn up in form today. For my money, Majborough is the most talented but is unreliable at the moment. Marine Nationale has had a stop-start season, and even though he has freshness on his side, his missed run at Cheltenham raises a question mark.
On the whole, tough, Il Etait Temps is solid. Three wins from four starts this season and six wins in his last seven runs have to make him the percentage call. As a fan of good races, though, I hope they all turn up in form, and we get the treat that top-level two-mile chasers can deliver.
The finale at 6.35pm is the four-year-olds-only bumper, and Delamotte catches the eye at home, but Emmet Mullins' booking of John Gleeson for Jerpoint Abbey catches the eye on paper.
