PUNCHESTOWN 2024 saw a handful of four-year-old hurdlers get in amongst their older rivals, typically a difficult task even at this stage of the season, and that presaged a strong crop that produced top class horses like Sir Gino, Majborough and Kargese, along with a solid second tier that included Salvator Mundi and Nurburgring.

2025 was a wipe-out for the four-year-olds against their elders, which looks about right given how they fared subsequently in open company, but this year was a strong one for the four-year-olds, even better than 2024.

Big runs

The four-year-olds competing against their older rivals at Punchestown last week finished with form figures of: 0P71P2112, with wins for Quinta Do Lago (shout out academy hurdles), Beauvallon and Adrienne, along with big runs from Immediate Effect and Lord Byron.

Lord Byron deserves credit for running King Rasko Grey to a head, that horse the winner of the strongest Cheltenham novice hurdle, and he was better than the form too, doing well to come from rear off a slow pace.

There was even a big-priced winner for the age group at Down Royal on bank holiday Monday when Berto Ramirez won a maiden hurdle against older horses.

With the best will in the world, the horses mentioned above are below the best juvenile hurdlers, so there is a possibility that the ones at top end will turn to be very good.

Grade 1 hurdles might be an ask in their first year out but races like the Galway Hurdle look ripe for a four-year-old.

Top table

Narciso Has looked top of the table mid-season before suffering a setback, and Mange Tout boosted his form since, but in his absence, Saratoga has stated his claim to being the best juvenile around.

His maiden hurdle runs were a means to an end, building experience ahead of target races in the spring, and he won both in good style, first the Fred Winter and then the Grade 1 Ballymore Champion Four-Year-Old Hurdle last Saturday.

He again impressed with how he went through and settled the race, and while his hurdling is not pitch perfect, he looks well worth a go in better races next season and is already a winner over the Champion Hurdle course and distance.

There were good efforts in behind too, Bartholomew taking a big step forward from his maiden hurdle win to come second while the fourth Charme De Faust looked in need of a stiffer test. She had already run well against older rivals in a pair of races that emphasis stamina, the Dawn Run and the Honeysuckle, and found the stop-start pace here against her.

PUNCHESTOWN watered plenty before and during the meeting to keep some give in the ground, and one of the consequences was that the outer of the chase track became favoured as the week went on.

Several Willie Mullins jockeys were exploring that route as early as the Tuesday, but most of them were out there by the weekend, as was Mark Walsh, which had been the case last year too.

Perhaps the winners of chases on the Friday and Saturday cards were flattered, but it is hard to rate Dinoblue as anything other than best in the Grade 2 Glencarraig Lady despite going the long way round.

The third Only By Night is hardly as bad as this made her look, however. Under a vastly different ride that saw her finish second at Cheltenham, she was hard around the inside throughout.

Best interview

The first three in the novice handicap chase all went wide, including the winner Funiculi Funicula under Paul Townend, and incidentally one of his owners, Seamus Hennessy, produced the best interview of the week via Off The Ball which is well worth checking out. His enthusiasm should be bottled!

Two stablemates of the winner shaped well in defeat. The fourth, Ballygunner Castle, did best those that went around the inner before understandably fading a little late, while the eighth, Kiss Will, kept on late having followed a similar route. Kiss Will has put in his best performances over hurdles and fences when granted a stamina test and looked in need of further here.

The bias became even more pronounced on Saturday. The first and second in the marathon chase, both trained by Willie Mullins, were part of a group of four that went wide throughout, and while the seventh Brucejack was the last finisher, he ran a fine race, up with pace and more towards the inner than most.

David Casey commented afterwards that the riders said the middle of the course was more watered, and the inside or outside was the place to be, but it looked like outside or bust to my eyes, and that was backed up by all six of the finishers in the Pat Taaffe taking that route.

Going from bumper to bumper

with some interesting prospects

THE accusation of ‘too many bumpers’ has been levelled at Punchestown from time to time, and seven across five days is a lot, but there is no shortage of runners in those races with the average field size being nearly 16.

A bumper also produced my performance of meeting, Even Tho routing her field in the Grade 3 contest for mares, pulling 16 lengths clear of her rivals.

The visuals were backed up by the clock, her time slightly faster than the Grade 1 bumper earlier on the card, but she was markedly faster than those proven performers in the final part of the races despite only being pushed out.

Versatility

The win also highlighted her versatility as her previous success had come over two miles, three furlongs on soft ground off a slow pace. She has come a long way in a short space of time, winning a point in December and looks a Grade 1 performer in the making.

The Champion Bumper produced a surprise winner in With Nolimit, a gradual improver throughout the season, but there seems little between many of these horses. The fourth, Dromard, looks as good a prospect as any for staying races after seeming to find conditions on the fast side.

He was outpaced a little in the final half-mile but picked up as soon as Patrick Mullins asked him then ran up the back of rivals which was not what a stayer wanted before finishing well. Barnahash Prince is another that should be suited by returning to further.

Beaten eyecatchers

Away from the featured bumpers, four beaten horses took the eye. Casino Chip was gambled on in the Goffs Defender but could hardly have done more wrong initially racing keenly in the lead then hanging from five furlongs out to the straight where he somehow kept on into seventh.

A wide route looked a help in the Willie Coonan Memorial Bumper that closed the Tuesday card, and two that ran better than the result down the inner were Red Seagull and Ignite The Moment, the latter making a big mid-race move and shaping a lot better than his 10th place finish.

Holly’s Thunder was having her first run of any kind in the staying bumper on Friday and was against more hardened types, but showed plenty of ability, travelling better than most to the half-mile pole in a well-run race before getting caught behind rivals then keeping on well to the line. Her pedigree is full of stamina, and her trainer has done well with the family, so she is one to follow.