All eyes will be on the mouth-watering clash between Constitution Hill and State Man in the Punchestown Champion Hurdle on Friday 2nd May, but our tipster Steve Chambers veers away from the marquee race of the day and picks out his bets for day four of the meeting elsewhere.
5:25pm Punchestown – QuinnBet Novice Handicap Chase
Third in all three chase starts to date, BLIZZARD OF OZ will make his handicap debut for Willie Mullins and having not been seen since February he could be one that downs some more experienced rivals in a fascinating contest at 5:25pm.
Fourth at last year’s Punchestown Festival when sent off a short odds for a competitive hurdle event, the seven-year-old was last seen chasing home stablemate Lombron at Gowran Park and that Mullins raider has since gone on to finish second in the bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown Park, so the form has certainly been given a huge boost. Likely to need a career best to land this prize he will need to deal with the hustle and bustle of a race of this nature, but he could be potentially ahead of the handicapper off a mark of 141.
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6:05pm Punchestown – Alanna Homes Champion Novice Hurdle
Gordon Elliott’s The Yellow Clay managed to get the better of Willie Mullins’s Final Demand in a vintage renewal of the Turners Novices’ Hurdle, but the pair were beaten by Dan Skelton’s The New Lion at the Cheltenham Festival. Well, the two Irish raiders are set for another epic battle in the Grade 1 novice hurdle at 6:05pm and could well be the dominant pair in the contest.
However, one that could slip under the radar is another contender for the Mullins yard in the shape of FUNICULI FUNICULA, who put up a huge career best when third in the Grade 1 Mersey Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree. Ninth in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham, the Closutton inmate appeared to enjoy the step up in trip at Liverpool. but was just outclassed by Honesty Policy late on. He was brave in defeat and another crack at the intermediate trip here could see him look to get away off the front end and he could be hard to catch on quick ground.
7:10pm Punchestown – Uniquely Novice Hurdle
Willie Mullins only has one runner in the 7:10pm contest, but he can duly land a hat-trick of winners for this column with RUNCOK landing the penultimate race on the card. Potentially going to be a short-priced favourite for the contest, the five-year-old kicked off his hurdling campaign with a win at Punchestown, while he followed that up with a fifth placed finish in a Grade 2 event at Fairyhouse.
He was well beaten that day by Irancy, who was seen earlier this week storming to Grade 1 glory, so the form has worked out well and Runcok could be another smart recruit for the Mullins team. Joseph O’Brien’s Naturally Nimble could prove to be the biggest danger as he looks to bounce back from a fall in the Grade 1 4-Y-O hurdle at Aintree last time out, but Runcok could just prove to be a cut above his rivals here.
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