Jane Mangan
Jane Mangan’s William Hill Blog: Punchestown Festival 2026 Day Five Best Bets
William Hill ambassador Jane Mangan is here to preview the fifth and final day of the 2026 Punchestown Festival.
Punchestown, Saturday
Let’s kick off with the four-mile handicap chase (3:05pm), for which I like Better Times Ahead. He ran with little to no credit in the Irish Grand National back at Fairyhouse, but I’m willing to put a line through that given the uniqueness of the test. I don’t think you can take that too literally, so with that I’m going to revert to his Thyestes form, where he was just touched off by Now Is The Hour. The ground is a question mark for him; his best form is on softer ground, but being by Walk In The Park, I think the drier conditions should be okay for him. A mark of 136 is very workable, he has proven stamina, and I believe if he can put his run in the Irish National behind him, he can run a big race.
In the listed handicap chase (3:45pm), I like the chances of British contender Montregard. We haven’t seen him since he won at Ascot back in February; he subsequently got a six-pound rise in the weights for that effort, but I think his form stacks up well with this race in mind. He has winning form on good ground, he is proven over the trip and, aged just seven, I believe he is well treated arriving at Punchestown, like many of the British handicap chasers. Bar one blip at Kempton over Christmas, he is very consistent and he’s the one for me.
The Grade One Mares’ Champion Hurdle (4:15pm) looks like it is going to be the coronation of Wodhooh. She has only been beaten once in her life; she’s 10 from 11 in that sphere, and the one time she was beaten, it was by the queen, Lossiemouth, at Aintree last year. Whilst I wasn’t overly impressed by the manner of victory at Cheltenham last time, she got the job done and, given the size of the field, I think it’ll be far easier for Jack Kennedy to ride his race. Jade De Grugy is a worthy opponent, but I believe Wodhooh will have to underperform to get beaten, and I think this will secure the championship for Jack Kennedy.
Willie Mullins saddles a mammoth 9 of the 13 declared runners for the Grade One Champion Four-Year-Old Hurdle (4:55pm), but incidentally I’m going against him with the Fred Winter winner, Saratoga. He was very impressive at Cheltenham and, given a rating of 140 since then, he was raised 10 pounds by the handicapper, which puts him on par with Proactif and just behind Apollon De Charnie, the Triumph Hurdle winner. He’s been the choice of Mark Walsh, who has stayed loyal over Proactif, and he has experience from earlier in the season and the flat class shown when he won on the flat for Ballydoyle. I believe the Fred Winter winner is going to beat the Triumph winner and, amazingly, I’m going against Willie Mullins here.
In the handicap hurdle (5:30pm), it is very hard to get away from Jump Allen. He looked extremely unlucky in running in the Martin Pipe at the Cheltenham Festival; Anna McGuinness found herself a little bit further back than ideal and met plenty of traffic in running when finishing a very strong third behind Air Of Entitlement. A number of these horses now reoppose, but with Paul Townend now in the saddle and off just a two-pound higher mark, he is absolutely thrown in here.
