Stat Of The Day — 9 November 2026
Monday brings jumps cards at Punchestown, Carlisle and Stratford. Today’s stat comes from the last race at Punchestown, the 15:45 Matchbook Betting Exchange Handicap Hurdle, a 0-100 over 2m4f on good to yielding ground with 22 declared. Stats are observations, not selections or betting recommendations.
Last updated: 9 November 2026, 09:00 UK time
Gaelic Des Chastys (15:45 Punchestown)
11lb lower over hurdles than the 105 he ran off over fences last month, and placed in each of his last four hurdle starts
Irish handicappers keep separate marks for hurdles and fences, and the gap between the two can be worth a lot. E McNamara’s ten-year-old has spent the autumn chasing off 103 and 105. Back over hurdles he gets in off 94, and his last four runs over the smaller obstacles read 2-3-2-2.
The stat
- Chase mark this autumn: 103 at Listowel in September, where he was second, and 105 at Limerick on 18 October
- Hurdle mark today: 94, which is 11lb below that last chase rating
- Last four hurdle starts, all 0-100 handicaps: second at Limerick off 87 (October 2025), third at Limerick off 90, second by a nose at Limerick off 90 and second at Thurles off 93 (January 2026)
- His chase win came off 98 at Listowel in September 2025, so his fencing form has been rated well above today’s hurdle mark
Why the price looks wrong
Those four placed efforts all came on soft or heavy ground, apart from the yielding at Limerick, so the drier surface today should help. His Listowel chase win and his latest chase second both came on good ground. The nose defeat in December came when giving 6lb to the winner, Dalmatic.
The 0-100 cap means he meets mostly lower-rated rivals here, and Patrick M O’Brien is back in the saddle. He rode him in three of those four placed hurdle runs. At 8/1, with up to six places on offer, the each-way part of the bet has a solid platform.
The bet
Gaelic Des Chastys each-way, 15:45 Punchestown: 8/1 with bet365 (six places, 1/5 odds) and William Hill (five places, 1/5 odds), 15/2 with Paddy Power (five places, 1/5 odds).
The risks
- He has been placed in plenty of races but has won only twice from 35 starts, and his last hurdle win was in June 2024
- 94 is his highest hurdle mark since 2021, and he went unplaced off similar marks back then
- He was well beaten in his last run over fences at Limerick, finishing sixth of eight
- This is a big field of lowly rated handicappers, and that makes it a lottery