It looks a case of cometh the rain, cometh the stars at Punchestown’s newly titled ‘Premiere Weekend’ with both the reigning Gold Cup and Champion Hurdle holders set to headline some superb Grade One action.
This week’s bracing winter weather conditions mightn’t be welcomed by everyone, but softer ground signals the likelihood of Willie Mullins taking the wraps off his biggest star names this weekend.
The dual-Gold Cup hero Galopin Des Champs is set to be joined by his stable companion Fact To File and old rival Fastorslow in a potential mini ‘Blue Riband’ in Sunday’s €150,000 John Durkan Chase. The trio fill the top three places in ante-post betting for Cheltenham in March.
Mullins has six of the 11 Durkan entries after Tuesday’s latest acceptance stage, with other possible opposition that includes two other JP McManus-owned Gold Cup candidates, Spillane’s Tower and Inothewayurthinkin.
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With time running out before the Christmas action, McManus’s team has indicated that Fact To File & co will take their chances and their No 1 hope was initially installed a 6-4 favourite by some firms to make his first start out of novice class a winning one.
For many though, a seventh clash between Galopin Des Champs and Fastorslow will be a mini drama on its own.
Galopin was a Durkan winner in 2022 but around Punchestown has largely had to play second fiddle to his old rival, who won last year and also emerged on top at the last two spring festivals.
Saturday’s Unibet Morgiana Hurdle has both the current champion State Man in line to complete a hat-trick in the race as well as his stable companion Lossiemouth, promoted to the top of championship betting at Cheltenham in March by some firms on Tuesday.
That was after Constitution Hill drifted in the market on the back of a reportedly lacklustre piece of work at Newbury on Tuesday morning.
A sense of the page being turned on the National Hunt season after weeks of quick ground conditions is underlined by the potential appearance of another of Mullins’s rising stars, Ballyburn, this weekend.
A superb novice winner at last season’s Cheltenham Festival, Ballyburn has been left in the Morgiana, but also holds an entry for a beginners’ chase on Saturday’s card.
Famously reluctant to commit to firm running plans until the last moment, it could be Thursday’s final declarations before Mullins opts for which option to take, if either.
The champion trainer can also call on other star quality for that beginners’ chase with last season’s Aintree Hurdle winner Ipaire Et Passe also in the mix to start a new career over fences.
Ground conditions at Punchestown on Tuesday were verging on yielding to soft with significant rainfall anticipated for the weekend in particular.
In the past Mullins has used the Punchestown dates to kick-start his winter campaign with a vengeance. He is pursuing a record-extending 10th Durkan success, while only once in the last 13 years has he failed to land the Morgiana.
That was in 2020 when Gordon Elliott and Gigginstown interrupted proceedings with Abracadabras. That partnership could pose the biggest threat this time through Brighterdayshead, who got her season off to a successful start at Down Royal earlier this month.
Elliott’s recent purple patch, underlined by winning eight of the 16 races at last weekend’s Navan Festival, sees him top the trainer’s championship with over €1.5 million in prize money in the bag already.
It puts him more than €600,000 clear of his great rival, a gap all but certain to narrow quickly now winter weather has begun.
The supplemented Capodanno will be Mullins’s contender in Saturday’s first Grade One of the British season, the Betfair Chase at Haydock.
In other news, Constitution Hill remains on course to finally return to action in next weekend’s Fighting Fifth at Newcastle despite not impressing every onlooker at Newbury when he galloped with another Nicky Henderson star, Sir Gino.
Constitution Hill only ran once last season and missed Cheltenham after he was found to have an infection following a disappointing workout at Kempton in February.
Whatever about appearances, Nico De Boinville was pleased with the feel he got from British jump racing’s biggest name.
“He felt great until about the two [furlong marker] and then he’s had a really good blow. He’s come off looking like he’s had a really good piece of work. It’s soft ground out there and he just needed it a bit, but that will bring him on,” the jockey said.
“Turning into the straight, he really locked on and I was just having to say ‘whoa, we’ve got four furlongs to run’ so all the ability is there, it’s getting him up to full fitness. Today will bring him on an awful lot. We’ve got one more piece of work to go. He’ll probably school this week and then we’re ready,” he added.
Asked if Constitution Hill felt different from his last public workout at Kempton, De Boinville replied: “Too right. At Kempton I was struggling going into the back straight, I could have pulled him up there and then and probably should have done. But today was great – Sir Gino is a very good horse himself.”
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