Irish racing tips: Tony Keenan preview and best bets for Punchestown

By Tony Keenan

Horse Racing

Sun January 12, 2025 · 3h ago

Tony Keenan looks ahead to the quality Sunday card at Punchestown and identifies a decent bet in the concluding handicap hurdle.

Irish racing tips: Sunday January 12

1pt win Beggars Rock in 3.25 Punchestown at 9/2 (General)

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

The two mile novice hurdle division is yet to really take shape, and many eyes will be on Salvator Mundi in the Sky Bet Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle today, the 2.25 at Punchestown, to see if the lukewarm Supreme favourite can cement his position at the top of that market.

He shaped well when sixth in last season’s Triumph Hurdle, travelling third best outside the winner and runner-up after the second last, and the four-year-olds of last year are a strong group. This is easily a race I can sit out for a selection, however.

A more appealing Willie Mullins novice hurdler for a bet might be Kappa Jy Pyke in the Sky Bet Acca Freeze Maiden Hurdle at 2.55. He shaped well on debut at Cork last month when keen and caught a little further back than ideal relative to the winner, Sky Lord.

That one runs in the previous race which should reveal more about the worth of the form while Mullins has an excellent record in maiden hurdles at this time of the year. The form of the Fairyhouse maiden won by Ballygunner Castle in November is well represented here but I am not sure of its worth; the winner looked much the best horse having been repeatedly hampered while Don’tstopthemusic may prefer further and A Dream To Share needs to sharpen his jumping.

Brave Brigadier is not out of it either and shaped well amidst greenness on debut at this track last month, losing ground when running to his hurdles, though he has to prove he handles slower ground.

The Sky Bet, For The Fans Novice Chase at 12.55 is a difficult race to sort. Lecky Watson looks improved for fences having been hard to win with over hurdles but his defeat of Slade Steel is not all it seems with a limited hurdler close behind them in third while Down Memory Lane shaped better than his third last time at Sandown when jumping big, doing as well to finish as close as he did.

Perhaps the overpriced one is Search For Glory who coped surprisingly well with the drop in trip in the Faugheen last time though that is not a strong view, and he is backing up quickly (now a non-runner).

In the Sky Bet Extra Places Every Day Amateur National (Q.R.) Handicap Chase at 1.55, Daily Present and Nine Graces have obvious claims on recent form while Prince Zaltar and Gringo d’Aubrelle are well-treated on their efforts further back.

Salmanino might be most solid of all, however. A dual course winner, including over this track and trip, he is well-suited by testing ground and came back to form last time after a mess of a 2023/24 season when he ran just twice, 148 days apart, and was pulled up on both occasions.

His yard were out of form for much of that time, however, and seem in better shape now and he jumped well when runner-up at Navan last month, only bested by a well-backed and unexposed JP McManus runner, and while that one was beaten yesterday, he looked to be ridden with another day in mind.

He is up two pounds in the weights now but is still below his initial chase mark and he has one of the in-form amateur jockeys of the moment on board in David Doyle. There is also a chance he gets an unpestered lead.

The last, the Albert Bartlett Triple Crown Series Qualifier Handicap Hurdle at 3.25, builds to a valuable final at the Festival here and has drawn an excellent field where it is easy to make cases for the likes of Londonofficecallin, Union Park and The Diddler, though all might prefer better ground.

BEGGARS ROCK, whose last two runs have come on going Timeform described as soft, may be more at home on this surface and in any case has looked much improved in those last two starts.

He finished a close third on chase debut at Cork last month but really should have won, making a mistake at the last and meeting trouble afterwards, while the two ahead of him were rated 119 and 118.

He is off 105 here and while it is a different code, the selection backed the improvement up next time over hurdles in first-time blinkers, travelling powerfully at Limerick over Christmas, niggled along briefly on the turn-in but soon back on the bridle and going best.

A well-backed rival fell at the last, but he looked to have her measure anyway as he beat the runner-up by 13 lengths, that one in form at the time while the third was an interesting handicap debutante.

The 10lbs rise for that win may not be enough to stop him and his stable, after an excellent Christmas, had another winner yesterday.

Published at 0850 GMT on 12/01/25

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