Barry Geraghty: Hoping Douglas can do plenty of Talking

William Hill ambassador Barry Geraghty gives his thoughts on day three from the Punchestown Festival, including a competitive renewal of the feature race, the Champion Stayers Hurdle.

Champion Stayers Hurdle

This has turned into a very competitive division and this race (5.25pm) looks another interesting sub-plot. It’s obviously very intriguing that Willie Mullins has declared Monkfish, who ran a cracker after that long lay-off at Fairyhouse last time. You’d expect him to improve for the run but likewise with the shortish turnaround, you’d have some reservations about the bounce factor.

Sire Du Berlais is trying for the spring hat-trick which is not an easy task. From memory, it’s only Istabraq and Sprinter Sacre that have managed it, so he has big shoes to fill. I thought he benefited from a really strong pace at Cheltenham and Aintree and he’s definitely a player here, though I just wonder whether this race might not be run to suit quite as much.

TEAHUPOO would be the one for me in this. He ran a great race in Cheltenham and I think he’s more dependant on the distance than he is on soft ground. He comes here reasonably fresh and he is the one to beat in my eyes.

Klassical Dream might be his challenger as it was well-documented that Willie didn’t have a clear run with him before Cheltenham and so he probably didn’t run too badly all things considered. He’s obviously won this race for the last two years, so we know he goes well at the track and there’s potential for plenty of improvement too.

Barberstown Castle Novice Chase 

EL FABIOLO looks like he’ll be very hard to beat in the Barberstown Castle Novice Chase (6.35pm). He was super impressive in the Arkle and while a smaller field will help Dysart Dynamo, I don’t see any reason to suggest he’ll be able to reverse that form.

Based on what we saw at Cheltenham, El Fabiolo has the potential to be a real superstar of a chaser.

Other races at Punchestown

I like the look of GROZNI in the Grade B Handicap Hurdle (6.00pm). He ran a very good race when second to Perceval Legallois at the Dublin Racing Festival and won at Leicester the time before so he comes here in solid form. A reproduction of that Leopardstown run would see him go very close and he has the bonus of coming here fresh having not run since February.

A lot of horses running this week have had hard seasons, so to have a horse who has relatively few miles on the clock counts for a lot, and I thought Grozni might be one who we haven’t seen the best of yet.

DOUGLAS TALKING was second in the Red Rum Handicap at Aintree and he looks interesting in the 2m Handicap Chase (4.15pm). That was only two weeks ago, but he didn’t run at Cheltenham and these two-mile handicaps in Ireland can be a touch weaker than in England.

Lucinda Russell can seemingly do nothing wrong at the moment and she could have another well-handicapped horse on her hands.

Finally, I was keen on the chances of BROOMFIELD BIJOU in the 2m Handicap Hurdle (3.40pm). She showed improved form on her last two runs compared to what she had done previously and her trainer, Philip Dempsey, is a shrewd operator who knows how to get one ready for the big day.