Punchestown Festival day three: preview and tips for eight-race card with two Grade 1s on the Thursday card

Galopin Des Champs’ 22-length success in the Punchestown Gold Cup was the highlight of day two of the Punchestown Festival on Wednesday and day three has plenty more thrills in store.

Another eight-race card in the sunshine is on offer for punters, with the action kicking off at 2.30pm and rounding off at 6.35pm, with two Grade 1 contests on Thursday’s card.

Read below to discover the latest tips and a full preview of the day three card at the Festival courtesy of BoyleSports, who offer the latest horse racing odds.

A two-mile handicap hurdle kicks things off on day three at 2.30. Off the back of a success over the larger obstacles at Ayr 189 days ago, The Other Mozzie heads back over hurdles and looks very well-treated, a whopping 19lb lower in this discipline, so has to be in with a shout for trainer Gavin Cromwell.

A Listed handicap chase is race two on the card (3.05) and there are plenty in with a shout in the 23-runner field. Mirazur West for the Willie Mullins team is unexposed in this sphere and appeals as the type that could enjoy it, so gets a marginal vote ahead of stablemate Tullyhill, a very talented hurdler that didn’t quite enjoy his last spin over fences when pulling up at Thurles but had two good tries over the bigger obstacles prior to it.

A field of 13 will take on the four miles and one furlong cross country chase in race three (3.40) where The Goffer for Gordon Elliott rates the pick of the weights, shaping well when third in the Topham at Aintree 27 days ago. Vanillier, well-backed in the Grand National but only came home 14th, rates the next best as he is more than capable of bouncing back to form after his third on the Cross Country at Cheltenham.

The second Listed race of the day is up next at 4.15 and it is an ultra-competitive handicap hurdle. Two British trainers could bring home a 1-2 here with Harry Fry’s Beat The Bat just shading the vote over Nicky Henderson’s charge Jeriko Du Reponent with the former a very good fourth in the Coral Cup and leaving the impression he’ll get this further trip. Jeriko Du Reponet was runner up in the Pertemps at Cheltenham, beaten by the re-opposing Doddiethegreat who is now 7lb higher in the weights than his stablemate so will have work to do.

Another listed contest follows at 4.50 with a mares novice hurdle over two miles and Sixandahalf looked a mare out of the top drawer when finishing runner up in the Mares’ Novices’ at Cheltenham so is the one to beat. Karoline Banbou was fourth in that race and is back for another crack here to rate the main danger.

The first Grade 1 on the day is race is up next as a field of ten take on the mares novice contest over the two-mile trip (5.25) and the clear class of the field is Majborough, the winner of the Triumph Hurdle at Cheltenham last year that lost his unbeaten run when making a big error in this year’s Arkle but he should be able to reverse the placings that day with Only By Night and provide Willie Mullins with an astonishing tenth straight win in this race.

The second Grade 1 arrives hot on the heels at 6.00 with the Champion Stayers Hurdle and a massive €180,000 top prize on offer. Teahupoo lost his Cheltenham Stayers’ crown to Bob Olinger but is still an incredibly high-class operator and looks the one to beat here, but won’t get it all his own way. The Henry De Bromhead-trained Hiddenvalley Lake landed with the Grade 1 Liverpool Hurdle 26 days ago so rates a massive danger, and the Jessica Harirngton-trained Jetara wasn’t far behind that day either so should be bang in there again.

Finally, the day three card comes to a close with the two-mile bumper for horses aged between four and seven years old (6.35) and preference in the finale heads the way of Ksar Fatal for team Mullins, an easy winner on his sole run in point-to-points who then backed that up when hosing up on National Hunt debut 54 days ago at Gowran and looked an incredibly exciting prospect.

Punchestown selections - Thursday 

2.30 - The Other Mozzie 

3.05 - Mirazur West 

3.40 - The Goffer 

4.15 - Beat The Bat 

4.50 - Sixandahalf 

5.25 - Majborough 

6.00 - Teahupoo 

6.35 - Ksar Fatal