The 2021 Punchestown Festival Tues April 27th - Sat May 1st

JamesRB said:
2 mile division probably in the rudest health it's been in for a long time with Chacun, Shishkin and Energumene

the latter looks quite the animal
Click to expand...

Ruby said on RTE that Energumene lifts his back end too high when jumping for a true 2 miler; if he tried that at Cheltenham he would end up on his head.
Reminds me of Un De Sceaux , same sire (Denham Red), same damsire (April Night) same shape, same attitude.
 
Last edited:
edgt said:
Ruby said on RTE that Energumene lifts his back end too high when jumping for a true 2 miler; if he tried that at Cheltenham he would end up on his head.
Reminds me of Un De Sceaux , same sire (Denham Red), same damsire (April Night) same shape, same attitude.
Click to expand...

his jumping is probably the only slight neg, its ok but not as slick as the usual top 2 miler. he has some engine on him though and gets horses right out of their comfort zone a long way from home. can't see any reason he won't be aimed at a 2 mile campaign next season. willie will throw as much as he can at winning his first queen mum.
 
JamesRB said:
his jumping is probably the only slight neg, its ok but not as slick as the usual top 2 miler. he has some engine on him though and gets horses right out of their comfort zone a long way from home. can't see any reason he won't be aimed at a 2 mile campaign next season. willie will throw as much as he can at winning his first queen mum.
Click to expand...

Would be fun seeing Willie send his two. Those two setting it with Shishkin stalking.
 
I reckon Shishkin will murder them both, if they all make it to Cheltenham. Genuinely think he is a class apart.

That said, I reckon they'll be talking about the Ryanair Chase for Energumene, before the end of the year.
 
Grasshopper said:
I reckon Shishkin will murder them both, if they all make it to Cheltenham. Genuinely think he is a class apart.

That said, I reckon they'll be talking about the Ryanair Chase for Energumene, before the end of the year.
Click to expand...

I wouldnt give up on Allaho over 2m. He was coming back at Chacun this week and Cheltenham might suit him better. Either him or Energumene (most likely Allaho) will end up in the Ryanair. Be interesting if Mullins sends one over to the Tingle Creek.
 
Henry hasn't had a winner yet this week. Honeysuckle to drift surely.. ..

Sent from my SM-J415FN using Tapatalk
 
I notice Laurina is back with CJ Farrell and declared in the Mares hurdle, Saturday. I thought she'd retired - anybody know the story?
 
Last edited:
Willie on Energumene from the RP:
"He's going to go down the Champion Chase route now. We'll keep going that way until he tells us he needs an extra half-mile. If Chacun Pour Soi and himself, and obviously the Donnellys' Shishkin get there, it's going to be a hell of a race."
 
Gutsy performance from Honeysuckle there. She gave Sharjah a chance at the last but he didn’t seem to want it enough


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
Euronymous said:
Can we trust her to hold her form into next year. Been a hard season.
Click to expand...

history would suggest she probably won't. she's been outstanding this season and really progressed but she's probably at her peak now. horses generally don't keep that going for very long.

it's a pretty weak division though and not sure anything stands out from the crop of novices as an obvious candidate to test her. something will probably come out of the woodwork but tough to see who it is atm.
 
Bet of the day anywhere for me: 5.05 Chatham Street Lad 6/1 (BOG). His improvement over fences this season has been huge (OR118 to 151, 156 in UK) and I rate him a lot higher. Hurdles mark had improved to 136 before that and he gets to run off it today. I usually allow a notional 10lbs differential between the codes (worked very well with The Shunter) so CSL is miles clear on my ratings with a huge margin for error.

This reminds me of when Total Recall hacked up at 5/6f in a 16-runner handicap returned to hurdles on 125 at the DRF after winning the Hennessy off 147.
 
I watched a fair bit of the Punchestown meeting.

Anyone who thinks the Irish jockeys are a league apart from the UK ones are kidding themselves on.

Walsh and Geraghty were brilliant. Blackmore is brilliant. The rest are no better than the better UK ones.
 
Desert Orchid said:
More than two races of interest, for sure, but are they betting material?

I've never really looked at the meeting before but is the bumper always full of unraced 4yos? is there any history of it producing big performances from those beyond the obvious candidates?

Are they all just social runners?
Click to expand...


Some jump from never really looking at the meeting before to using it as a stick to beat Irish jockeys.
 
Desert Orchid said:
I watched a fair bit of the Punchestown meeting.

Anyone who thinks the Irish jockeys are a league apart from the UK ones are kidding themselves on.

Walsh and Geraghty were brilliant. Blackmore is brilliant. The rest are no better than the better UK ones.
Click to expand...

A golden age of jocks has passed, fair enough

There are any amount of good young jockeys in Ireland who ride every day and not just the last week in April
 
granger said:
There are any amount of good young jockeys in Ireland who ride every day and not just the last week in April
Click to expand...

I'm not disagreeing with that, granger.

Some are very good indeed but I don't believe they're significantly better than the better ones riding here. Even David Maxwell won a race at Punchestown.
 
Back
Top