J J Slevin’s William Hill blog: Punchestown Festival Days One and Two Preview

William Hill ambassador J J Slevin previews his rides on Days One and Two of the Punchestown Festival, including rides aboard Impaire Et Passe, Banbridge and Solness in Tuesday’s William Hill Champion Chase.

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Tuesday, Punchestown

This year’s Punchestown Festival looks to be as competitive as ever, but I look to have some nice rides over the first two days of the meeting and hopefully there will be a winner or two amongst them.

My first ride on Tuesday is for trainer Stuart Crawford on Kinbara Firstdraft in the handicap hurdle over an extended two-miles-three-furlongs (3.05pm). He will like the ground here and he put up a nice run in defeat the last day at Down Royal where he finished behind Timmy Tuesday. He is an improving horse and this was a good pot to get him qualified for so we will see what we can do. The trip will be fine.He has a bigger swing at the weights with Timmy Tuesday, who has beaten him the last two times, so we are hopeful he can put up a big run. He is a young horse that is improving so there might be a bit of leeway in his mark.

We are going back over hurdles in the Listed handicap over an extended two-miles (3.40pm) with Hunters Yarn, who not so long ago was a very good bumper horse. Things didn’t work out for him in the Red Rum Chase up at Aintree and the ground was quite dry so he didn’t really let himself down on it. Hopefully the ground might be a bit slower than it was at Aintree as that would suit him better. Going back over hurdles with him will hopefully see a different horse. I think it is a good move and definitely worth a try.

It is great to get back on board Impaire Et Passe in the Grade One Champion Novice Chase (4.50pm). He was very good up at Aintree, but he has been a very good horse his whole life, and I would hope he would have a very good shout. I’d be pretty confident he will get the trip (three-miles-one-furlong) as he has a nice relaxed way of racing and he conserves plenty of energy. He is a very classy horse up at that trip. The cheekpieces are back on him again and they will help him concentrate a bit and keep him focused. I’m really looking forward to him. Ballyburn might not have been at his best at Cheltenham, but we will definitely have a good shot at him. Impaire Et Passe really has been a model of consistency as he has won more races than he lost.

My other Grade One ride on the card is aboard Solness in the William Hill Champion Chase (6pm), which me and Joseph (O’Brien) teamed up to win with Banbridge last year. Things didn’t really happen for him early on in the Champion Chase at Cheltenham, but we are hoping that Punchestown will really suit him. It is a front runners track, and everyone knows what he is going to do, but I’m excited about him and he is in good form. I think Fact To File is probably the main danger back at two miles. He is a very good horse and I would be most worried about him. I will let him jump out and roll away from fence-to-fence and let them come and try to get him. It has been a great few months for him as he has made an unbelievable amount of improvement and it would be great if he could get another big one here.

Wednesday, Punchestown

I’ve only got two rides on the card on Wednesday, however one of them is Banbridge in the Punchestown Gold Cup (5.30pm), which is one of the biggest races at the meeting. I was a little bit disappointed with him in the Cheltenham Gold Cup as he never got into his forward going rhythm which is not like him at all to be fair. He had that sort of run last year at the Cheltenham Festival in the Ryanair Chase, but then he came out of it and bounced back with a win in the Champion Chase here. It is only a small field with four runners, and they are three very good horses he is in against, but hopefully he will run a big race. It will be pretty simple tactically as everyone knows Galopin Des Champs will go forwards to try and make it a big stamina test. We will follow him along there and we will either get by him or we won’t. I think we can serve it up to him around here as he has won the Champion Chase around here and he is a King George winner so he is a very good horse. Galopin Des Champs is a very good horse, but he has been beaten in this race for the past two years, and if he is at his most vulnerable it could be around here. This race is definitely worth a punt with him as he likes the sun on his back at this time of year and it is a fast track.

My only other ride on Wednesday is aboard James Du Berlais in the Grade Three handicap chase (6.05pm). He ran a great race in the Topham over the Grand National fences at Aintree. He is a class horse, and although he doesn’t find much off the bridle, he could run well around here. He is a very active horse that is a very good jumper so the switch back to regulation fences is no problem and this fast track will suit him as well. He keeps running well so he is the victim of his own consistency, but it would be great to see him win a race like this having run well at the meeting in the past.