It is a measure of Ireland’s current near-monopoly on the biggest stars in jump racing that the first meeting between Chacun Pour Soi and Allaho, two of the country’s best five steeplechasers on the official ratings, at the Punchestown Festival on Tuesday is some way from being the most eagerly anticipated race of the five-day meeting.
It is not even the most high-profile head-to-head on the opening day’s card. That will arrive just over an hour later, when Monkfish, a Grade One winner at Cheltenham, takes on Envoi Allen, unbeaten until his fall when odds-on at the same meeting, in the Champion Novice Chase.
In a normal year, either race would have been an enthralling centrepiece for the Festival’s first day. Both involve multiple Grade One-winners, and both are also clashes between Paul Townend and Rachael Blackmore, who will be slugging it out all week for the Irish jump jockeys’ title.
But in this most abnormal of seasons for the sport as a whole, a campaign that has often felt to the handful who are there like a silent movie playing to a near-empty cinema, Tuesday’s action simply sets the tone for a week when all but a handful of jumping’s biggest names are expected to appear.
Horse Racing Ireland lists 20 chasers with a rating of 163 or higher, including three trained in Britain. Of those, just four were not entered to run over the five days of the Festival, when the programme will include no fewer than 12 Grade One contests.
The only real disappointment heading into the meeting is the withdrawal of Minella Indo, last month’s Gold Cup winner at Cheltenham, from the field for Punchestown’s equivalent contest on Wednesday. In his absence, Al Boum Photo, third home at Cheltenham when looking to complete a Gold Cup hat-trick, is the new favourite, ahead of Clan Des Obeaux, one of the few British-trained horses that will travel across the Irish Sea this week.
Honeysuckle, the Champion Hurdle winner, will on Friday have her first start since Cheltenham, while Bob Olinger and Flooring Porter are two more of the astonishing 23 Irish-trained winners at last month’s Festival who will have their final race of the campaign on their home turf over the course of the week.
And as if the equine stars were not enough, the nip-and-tuck struggle between Townend and Blackmore for the Irish jump jockeys’ title will be a compelling storyline throughout the week, as the Grand National’s winning jockey attempts to overcome a four-winner deficit.
Townend had what looked like an unassailable advantage in the title race in early April, but nothing can ever be taken for granted in jump racing, and a leg injury at Fairyhouse on 4 April left him on the sidelines. He has since been forced to watch as Blackmore has eaten away at his lead, with a treble on Friday moving her to within striking distance of the reigning champion.
In addition to pitting Townend against Blackmore, it sees Willie Mullins up against De Bromhead, who took over as Envoi Allen’s trainer when Gordon Elliott’s world collapsed around him in early March.
Over the last five weeks, De Bromhead has won the three biggest races at Cheltenham – the first trainer to do so – and then added a first win in the Grand National for good measure. His horses have helped propel Blackmore to global fame in little more than a month and with the jockey now within sight of another huge career milestone, this is no time to ease off the pressure.
The grandstands will be empty but the stage is set for Blackmore to close out the season in appropriate style.
Tuesday’s best bets
When a head-to-head gets the build-up that Monkfish and Envoi Allen’s meeting has received, there is always a risk that it will not live up to expectation. But if both horses are at or near their peak form this evening, it has the potential to be the best race in the novice chasing division for many years, if not decades. It is unusual for two novices of such quality to be racing in the same season in the first place, and even more so to find them squaring off as their final act in the campaign.
The market is struggling to separate them, though Monkfish (6.30) is currently a marginal favourite at around 6-5 with Envoi Allen, who will be ridden by Blackmore for the first time, on offer at 11-8 and Colreevy, winner of the new Mares’ Chase at Cheltenham last time, priced up at 7-1. That feels like the right way round, as Envoi Allen still has a question to answer about the three-mile trip even if his mishap at the Festival is forgiven as a blip.
It could be worth siding with Blackmore in the day’s other big match-up, however, as Allaho (5.25) drops back in trip to attempt a repeat of his dominant performance in the Ryanair Chase against Chacun Pour Soi. Allaho’s winning time at the Festival suggested it was a performance to match anything at the meeting and he jumped and travelled so well in front that even the two-mile specialist Chacun Pour Soi – who was below his very best at Cheltenham – could struggle to land a blow.
Yarmouth 1.00 Ladywood 1.35 Restitution 2.10 Pactolus 2.40 Moorbik 3.15 Ahdab 3.50 Revolutionise 4.25 Maurice Dancer
Nottingham 1.50 Amber Dew 2.20 Sun Festival 2.50 Roman Mist (nap) 3.20 Lights On 3.55 Mostly 4.30 Lostwithiel 5.05 Shalaa Asker
Brighton 2.00 Zulu Zander 2.30 Navello 3.00 Lethal Angel 3.35 Recall The Show 4.05 Aweemaweh 4.40 Bombastic 5.15 Velocity
Lingfield 4.35 Captain Pugwash 5.10 Reeceltic 5.45 Air To Air 6.20 True Scarlet 6.50 True Destiny 7.25 Untold Story 7.55 Party Island
Ayr 5.00 Asdaa 5.35 Pearl Of Qatar 6.10 Flying Moon 6.40 Will Sommers (nb) 7.15 Noman 7.45 Hong Kong Harry 8.15 Wootton Creek
Elsewhere on the Punchestown card, Gentleman De Mee (4.50) will take plenty of beating in the handicap hurdle if he is anywhere close to his winning form at Naas in February, while on the other side of the sea, Roman Mist (2.50) and Will Sommers (6.40) could be the best bets of the day at Nottingham and Ayr, respectively.
Look out too for Ahdab (3.15) at Yarmouth, as a big run by Ed Dunlop’s gelding would be a boost for the winning form of Mostly (3.55) at Kempton last time, ahead of her run in the Listed Nottinghamshire Oaks.
