The Betway ambassador previews his four rides on Friday at the Punchestown Festival, headlined by Lossiemouth in the Boodles Champion Hurdle.
We move on to the penultimate day of the Punchestown Festival, and another great day of racing, headlined by the Boodles Champion Hurdle. I can’t wait to ride Lossiemouth once again, but I have a few decent chances earlier on in the afternoon, so hopefully we’ll have had a winner or two by the time we get to the big race at 6pm!
I start off on Friday with Spindleberry 9/1 in the Mares Chase (16:50), and it will be no easy task for her, taking on Dinoblue and Only By Night once again. She’s a talented mare, but she’s better suited by slower ground in truth, so she’d really want the rain to come if she was going to have a realistic chance of turning the tables on those two.
She didn’t run badly at all at Cheltenham, but I just felt she found the ground that day a bit quick for her, and it might not be much slower on Friday unless the rain arrives.
Dinoblue was so impressive at Cheltenham, and she’s just rock solid, so I suspect she’ll take all the beating in this. It will be tough for us, especially giving weight away to everything else in the field, but Spindleberry will no doubt run her race once again.
Willie runs eight in the Novice Handicap (17:25), and when you go through them, you’d struggle to rule any of them out completely in what looks like a hugely competitive race. I just went for Funiculi Funicula 11/2 because he pleasantly surprised me the last day when he was able to win on decent ground at Cork over two miles, and although he’s got plenty of weight, you can carry that in this race.
Kiss Will could be the main danger of the others because he was running a big race before coming down in the Irish National last time. He took a heavy fall that day, and that was my only concern with him just three weeks on.
Funiculi Funicula is a horse with plenty of potential, though, and he just hasn’t quite fulfilled that yet, but there really are signs he’s starting to put it all together and I think he goes there with a big chance.
King Rasko Grey 1/2 has been in great order at home since Cheltenham and he sets the standard for me in the Novice Hurdle (18:00). He’s not flashy, but he’s a rock-solid horse who always gives his running, and this looks a nice opportunity for him to follow up that Cheltenham win. The ground was fairly quick over there that day, but he handled it absolutely fine after encountering really testing ground at Leopardstown the time before. I’d say he’s just a very good horse who handles most types of ground, to be honest.
The ease with which he won at the Festival impressed me most, because he put it to bed pretty early before just doing enough at the line. The form of the race is looking good, too, with both Zeus Power and Soldier Reeves going so well at Aintree, so I’d be disappointed if King Rasko Grey couldn’t follow up here.
What more can we say about Lossiemouth 4/9? She’s just a superstar, and it will be a pleasure to ride her once again in the Boodles Champion Hurdle (18:40). She’s proven herself on all different types of ground, over a variety of trips, and I really am running out of superlatives to use for her.
She’s unbeaten here at Punchestown, but her record is good pretty much everywhere and she’s just an exceptional mare. These types of mares don’t come along too often,, so you have to really enjoy them when you have them, and she’s going to take an awful lot of beating with a clear round.
William Munny is the interesting one in there, especially with Barry Connell having his horses in such good nick. He’s been off the track a while, but his second in the Supreme last season is seriously good form. He’s a talented horse, but giving weight away to Lossiemouth is some ask now, particularly off a long layoff.
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