THE Grade 1 races at Punchestown can produce a form book of their own, and that was the case again this year with big race winners at 16/1 and 18/1 on Tuesday, but then there is Il Etait Temps in the William Hill Champion Chase.

Though small in stature, he is one of the most robust chasers around, consistent and taking his racing well.

Since finishing up in novice company, he has won five of his six starts and quickly got back on track after a fall at Ascot in January to win a pair of Grade 1s this spring, the most recent on the opening day of Punchestown.

Fast ground or slow, home or away, he seems to turn up at his best, and he was able to win here despite his jumping lacking fluency.

Having set off in the lead, he made a mistake at third and lost more ground at the fourth, leaving him on the backfoot but Paul Townend allowed him time to get back into the race, and he came there going best turning in.

Excellent season

Despite another mistake at the second last, he ran out a ready winner, a fine sign off on an excellent season.

Barry Connell opted to put cheekpieces on Marine Nationale for the first time, the idea being to make him sharper at the start, and they worked well as he got into a good rhythm from early on, jumping fluently throughout.

In the end, he wasn’t as good as Il Etait Temps, and that is just where they are at just now, but Marine Nationale has not had a smooth season, missing a couple of targets, and may be a little better than this.

Champion Novice Hurdle

Connell still managed a Grade 1 winner on the card with Eachoftheirown in the PRL Champion Novice Hurdle, and his tinkering with headgear paid off as he won in the first-time hood, settling better in front than he had in behind in the Supreme Novices. His success owed plenty to getting an uncontested lead as the winner covered the distance from the first to line 6.3 seconds slower than the runners in the preceding handicap hurdle over the same trip and this was a weak race in any case, the Irish two-mile novices looking a poor group as British horses filled the first four places in the Supreme.

Still, this was Connell’s fifth Grade 1 win since 2020, behind only Mullins, Elliott, de Bromhead, O’Brien and Cromwell among Irish trainers, a notable achievement and he did it from just 16 runners in those races.

The disappointment of the race was El Cairos, especially given he raced close to the slow pace and travelled up well on the turn in, while both Blake and Le Labo shaped better than the result having been held up.

Le Labo in particular is worth marking up as he was the least experienced in the field and took a nasty stumble turning in.

Fold best

There was little between most of the field turning for home in the Dooley Insurance Group Champion Novice Chase, but Western Fold stayed on best late and became the top prize money horse of the Irish season, at the time of writing at least.

This form does not seem particularly solid however, for all Fleur In The Park is a credit to connections, again running a cracker at the top level. Kitzbuhel was nowhere near his Cheltenham form, perhaps finding this one race too many in a season that included three trips to England, while he was not helped by being taken on by Predators Gold after halfway.

Predators Gold didn’t jump well enough, and nor did Oscars Brother, while Kappa Jy Pyke seemed not to stay, so this might be a race to file away in the Punchestown form book.

JOSEPH O’Brien has been the main story of the early flat season, and he continued his good form with trebles across the two Irish cards last Saturday, landing the featured Salsabil Stakes at Navan with Thundering On.

That winner had shaped with promise on her first three starts, but looked a different filly here, value for a fair bit more than the three-and-a-quarter-length winning margin.

In a race run at a reasonable gallop, she tracked the pace and travelled best down the hill but had nowhere to go until a gap opened over a furlong from home and she shot through it to settle the race in strides.

There are a few possible reasons for her improvement. Experience and time are obvious ones, if a little trite, while going up in trip seemed to help too. She doesn’t necessarily want to be going any further with the speed she showed here, however, while her talented dam Thundering Nights seemed a 10-furlong specialist.

Another angle is that she achieved a lot more in her Leopardstown maiden defeat earlier in April than was apparent at the time. She raced against the inner throughout that race which looked a significant disadvantage during that card, the winner of the race taking a wider route, and it could be worth revisiting that meeting to look for ones that ran well close to the inside rail.

Those that looked to do well included the likes of Sedro Wooly, Pallatine Hills, Killashee Warrior, Mayflower and Caught U Sleeping.

The going at Navan was officially good to yielding, good in places, but Gary Bannon, assistant trainer to the first winner Sporting Hero felt it was faster, saying afterwards ‘there was no yielding in it, it is very quick ground.’

Decent pointer

That might mean the meeting proves a decent pointer to some of the summer flat racing run on a sound surface, and Aidan O’Brien started off a couple of likely Royal Ascot runners in Charles Darwin and Scandinavia, both looking typically likeable Ballydoyle types, racing in a straightforward manner and finding plenty for pressure.

Charles Darwin won a weak version of the Committed Stakes, and they were in a heap behind him, but he was giving at least 5lb to his rivals while returning from a 321-day absence and won with a bit in hand. He has won all four of his starts since getting beaten on debut and does things right.

O’Brien had suggested that Scandinavia would improve plenty for his run in the Vintage Crop Stakes and this looked a strong running of the listed race, three of the field rated at least 111.

In the end, he ran out a ready winner despite the steady pace hardly being ideal. For a horse that was able to win a Goodwood Cup over two miles at three, he showed good speed to come from mid-division here and looks set for another good season, the Ascot Gold Cup an obvious target.