Gavin Cromwell
Gavin Cromwell’s William Hill blog: Punchestown Thursday, Friday & Saturday preview
William Hill ambassador Gavin Cromwell previews his runners across the final three days of the Punchestown Festival.
Punchestown, Thursday
The first of our seven runners on Thursday is Vanillier in the Cross Country (15:40). He’s a worthy favourite having won a couple of cross country races here and he’s had another good season.
He knows his way around the track and he’s in good shape, the only negative might be the ground as he’d probably like it a little softer. He should be fine on it and he has to have a right good chance.
The Lovely Man is the first of two for us in the Listed three-mile handicap hurdle (16:15). He’s 11lbs lower over hurdles than fences so we were keen to give this a go. He’s in great shape and we’re very happy with him at home, but he has done most of his winning on heavy ground. Better ground won’t be ideal, but with his mark and the prize money on offer it looks worth taking a chance.
We also run Bridie’s Beau, who has had a couple of setbacks after a good start to the season. He had a cut which held him back a bit and then that reopened, but we’ve had a clear run with him for the past while and he seems to be in good form. He might not be very well handicapped but he’s in off a light weight and Patrick O’Brien takes off a valuable 5lbs, which will only help his chances.
We’ve three runners in the Two-mile Listed handicap chase (16:50) and Ballysax Hank is the one who has been in the best form this season. We toyed with the idea of stepping up to two-and-a-half with him but he’s very fresh in himself at home so I think it’ll be fine. We dropped him out too far at Cheltenham and he got interference, but he came home well and ran a nice race. He’ll love the ground and he’s in great shape at home, so hopefully he’ll run a good race.
We have Path d’Oroux and The King Of Prs in here as well. I don’t think either of them are too well handicapped, but The King Of Prs was running well in the Topham and you couldn’t say he was done with before he fell three out. He generally jumps really well and hopefully has a place chance here.
Path d’Oroux has just lost his way a bit and we’re hoping for him to bounce back here with a nice run before he goes for a break over the summer.
We finish off with Outofafrika in the bumper (18:35). He won well on heavy ground in Fairyhouse but he’s versatile and I think he’s definitely up to running a big race here. He’s one I’m really looking forward to going hurdling with next season.
Punchestown, Friday
We have two runners in the Grade 2 Mares’ Chase (16:50) on Friday and I’m really looking forward to getting Only By Night out again. We rode her to get the trip in Cheltenham and she had no issue with it, so we’ll probably ride her with a bit more confidence here. She’s been in great form at home since and I’m happy with her.
Willie’s mare Dinoblue is very good and she’ll take a lot of beating, but I’m optimistic we can make her work very hard for it and hopefully we can beat her.
We also run Sophia Rose and this is a huge task for her. She’ll just be chasing some prize money and if she can run into a place and pick up some black-type then that will be great.
We have a couple for JP McManus in the two-mile handicap hurdle (19:10). Saveforarainyday is a funny mare because she’s great at home but when she gets to the track she can be very keen. She has a hood back on here and hopefully that’ll settle her. She won a poor race in Limerick so it’s hard to judge her off that, but hopefully she’ll run well.
In My Teens is having her first run back off a break and she’s in good form so I’m looking forward to getting her started again here. She’s a work in progress in that she needs to learn to settle better and learn to do things right, which might be difficult for her in a big-field handicap. That said, she’s maturing all the time and hopefully she can run a nice race.
Largy Star rounds off our Friday runners in the bumper (19:40). It was a good run in Fairyhouse the last day considering he missed a lot of hurdles. He did well to be placed with those mistakes. I just thought we’d give him one more go in a bumper and he should like the ground, so hopefully he’ll run well.
Punchestown, Saturday
Hopefully we don’t end up starting our Saturday with Vanillier in the Cross Country (14:30), but he’s entered in there just in case we have another situation like we had with Stumptown here a couple of years ago.
We have three entered in the four-mile handicap chase (15:05), one of which is Ulster National winner Born Braver. He followed that up with a run in the Irish National where he finished well back, but he came out of that well and has been in good order since. He’s a bit of a lazy horse which is probably why he struggled to hold his place in the Irish National, but he’s back in grade here and if he can get into a rhythm then he should run well.
Union Station is one who’ll be fine on the better ground. He’s a very good jumper and he should be up to running really well in a race like this.
Evies Vladimir has struggled a bit this year but he seems in decent form at home. It’s hard to fancy him, but I don’t see any reason not to run him so we’ll let him take his chance.
We have another couple for JP McManus in the three-mile Listed handicap chase (15:45). Things didn’t go to plan for Perceval Legallois in the Grand National but he’s come out of it well. He’s quite high in the handicap and he might struggle off his current mark, but we’ll give it a shot.
Invictus Machin is one who runs well fresh and he seems in good form heading here. He’ll enjoy the ground and he could have a good chance off the back of a couple of big runs.
Hello Neighbour goes in the two-and-a-half-mile Listed handicap hurdle (17:30). Keith Donoghue was keen to try stepping him up in trip and it’s a bit of an unknown, but you’ll never know until you try.
He’s quite a keen horse and he likes to be ridden off the pace, but we saw in the County Hurdle that if you do that over two miles and the pace steadies, you end up getting caught too far back in a sprint finish. Hopefully we can drop him out and he’ll have the gears to travel through and finish well here.
Runningtostandstill is our final runner of the Punchestown Festival and he goes in the bumper (18:05). He’s a nice young horse who works well and we’re hopeful of a good showing from him here. It’s our first runner for Sean & Bernardine Mulryan and it would be nice to see him run well for them.
