Our Irish form expert Tony Keenan has two selections for the second day of the Punchestown Festival.
Irish racing tips: Wednesday May 1
1pt win Answer To Kayf in 3.05 Punchestown at 5/2 (General)
0.5pts e.w Union Park in 6.00 Punchestown at 28/1 (General 1/5 1,2,3,4,5)
Punchestown saw some of the most competitive action of any of the spring festivals yesterday with a good spread of winning trainers, and today’s card looks similarly open with the Ladbrokes Gold Cup at 5:25 the standout race.
Galopin Des Champs has already had a season for the ages, and bids to emulate Sizing John in winning three Gold Cups in the same campaign, having also put in a brilliant performance in the Savills Chase for good measure, but he might be at his most vulnerable today on a track where is last two defeats have come, facing the rival that has won both those races.
Jasmin De Vaux in the Race & Stay at Punchestown Champion Bumper (4:50) is another with a whiff of vulnerability, this relative speed test likely to be against one that looks a stayer in the making, but settling on one to beat him is hard.
The horse that finished second to him in the Cheltenham equivalent, Romeo Coolio, has scope to improve having had a rushed preparation for that race while perhaps also racing in the wrong part of the track, while The Yellow Clay didn’t get the opportunity to show his best then either, racing too keenly in the lead with no cover.
Harbour Highway too has a lot of potential, beating one with good form on debut at Navan, and his trainer has been making notably positive noises about his chances.
Perhaps a better race to attack is the HSS Hire Handicap Chase at 6:00. Lets Go Champ has good claims after shaping well off a break in a steadily run race at Limerick and he ran a fine race when runner-up over hurdles at the meeting last year.
UNION PARK might be more overpriced, however. Like many in the Philip Rothwell yard, he was in excellent form at the end of the last year and the beginning of this one, shaping well in defeat in a couple of two mile handicap chases, a trip that is on the sharp side for him, while also winning a handicap hurdle over two-and-a-half miles at Cork that worked out well.
He has been off since early January, but my hope is that this be design as he does not want testing ground and we have had nothing else in that period while the last time he came off a break he won by an easy seven lengths.
His yard was in excellent form when he was last seen, and after a lull have hit top gear again with seven winners in April, and this looks a highly suitable race provided he is fit enough to run to form.
Another trainer that has had an excellent season is Terence O’Brien and his stable star ANSWER TO KAYF looks a solid favourite in the Connolly’s Red Mills Irish EBF Auction Hurdle Series Final at 3:05 and could be shorter in the market.
His winter form would give him every chance of winning this race but he took things up a level last time when fourth in the Martin Pipe, one of four Irish novices to pull clear of the rest, and while that form has not been fully tested yet, the third won next time out and the winner is a relatively short price for a Grade 1 elsewhere on this card.
He has to carry top-weight, but that burden is lessened by the presence of his regular rider taking off seven pounds and he is the one to beat.
Preview posted at 0915 BST on 01/05/2024
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