Punchestown Festival - Day One

 In what's the final major festival of the National Hunt season, @elliotwhite5 has given his thoughts on day 1 of the festival and is hoping to follow on his form from Aintree.


16:15 KPMG Champion Novice Hurdle 2m

It isn’t a very SHROOD call, but I think FACILE VEGA will take all the beating here. I wasn’t really a fan of his going into the supreme where he was a good second to the exciting MARINE NATIONALE.

I think if Paul had the ride again he’d hold on to him a little longer and although I don’t think he’d have beaten the winner he’d have beat the rest even further. The form of the race has worked out fairly well with the 4th INTHEPOCKET taking the top novices at Aintree 2 weeks ago.

The 3rd and 5th from the supreme DIVERGE and IL ETAIT TEMPS reoppose here but I would be very confident Facile Vega would confirm the form. I personally thought he’d be more of a 4/9 1/2 shot after the declarations so the 4/6 on offer will do for me.

Selection -Facile Vega (4/6 William Hill, 8/13 General)


17:25 William Hill Champion Chase 2m

Now to go from putting up a short price fav to taking one on, I’ve never really been a massive ENERGUMENE fan. Although he’s won the last 2 renewals of the Champion Chase which nobody can take away from him it’s hard to disagree that both races completely fell apart.

The horse I’m going to take him on with here is his stablemate GENTLEMAN DE MEE. This lad is a bit of an enigma but when he puts it all together he’s capable of a big performance. 

I imagine Mark Walsh will bounce him out and try and make all the pace he goes could just be enough to expose ENERGUMENE’s jumping. If Gentleman De Mee puts in a clean round of jumping he could be very hard to catch although that is an “if” it’s a risk I’m willing to take at the current 5/1 available, you may even get slightly bigger on the day.

Selection -Gentleman De Mee

5/1 Betfair/Paddy Power

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