Irish Horse Racing Betting: Saturday at Punchestown

005 Irish Racing / Wayne Bailey / 14 November 2008 / Leave a Comment

Wayne Bailey takes a look at each race on the opening day of the winter festival...

12:15 - Irish Field 3-Y-O Hurdle

Racing starts eary at this time of the year, and the Angelus will hardly have finished ringing when the first race of the Punchestown winter festival kicks off at 12:15. I'm saving a prayer for The Fist Of God to get me off to a good start. The Noel Meade trained three year-old performed well in his flat career, and showed jumps potential when battling on to win a maiden hurdle at Down Royal last time out.

Advice: Back The Fist Of Got to win.

12:45 - Event Power Risk Of Thunder Chase

Heads Onthe Ground will enjoy the heavy conditions, and this chase should be right up his street. He hasn't performed too well this season as yet, but Enda Bolger has prepared him for this race and the former Cheltenham winner should have enough in the tank to fight off stablemate Drombeag.

Advice: Back Heads Onthe Ground to win and Drombeag to place.

1:20 - Pat Neville & Sons Ltd. Hurdle

Course and Distance winner Bob Lingo is the obvious choice here. He put on a cracking display when beating Dan Dare last month and that horse has since notched up a win at Fairyhouse. The JP McManus owned six year-old looks superior on all fronts, but the Willie Mullins trained Freds Benefit won't go down without a fight, and I'll keep him onside in the place market.

Advice: Back Bob Lingo to win, back Freds Benefit to place.

1:50 - A Space Cabins Florida Pearl Novice Chase (Grade 3)

Trafford Lad will attract a lot of support and looks like a good chaser in the making - but his price is simply too short for me considering the challenge Siegemaster is likely to put up. Timeform have rated Siegemaster 13lbs superior and early quotes of around [2.75] look like a bargain to me. I'm sure he'll get better over fences in the coming year or two, and this race looks ideal to start him on that road.

Advice: Back Siegemaster to win, Lay Trafford Lad.

2:25 - Event Centre Handicap Chase

There's a couple of decent OAPs in this race, but it's not the best kind of contest for betting purposes and my stakes will be kept to a minimum here. It's hard to say anything bad about Jamies Choice who has won five out of six recently, and is sure to play a part. However, I think Vintage Treasure could be the dark horse. He performs on the ground and the yard is expecting him to improve this season.

Advice: Back Vintage Treasure to be placed.

3:00 - Impact Metals Maiden Hurdle

A guessing game of a race, and we've no idea how well/poorly half of the field are expected to perform. Time to grab a pint and one of those big beef rolls you only seem to get at race meetings!

Advice: No Bet

3:30 - Pat Moore Builders Ltd. Novice Handicap Hurdle

Colm Murphy has a great record at Punchestown, and Fleeting Chance can go one better than his second place to Rebel Run at Cork last time out. The ground won't be a problem and I'm expecting a big race from him today. Dafarabad is attracting some early support and has performed well on the flat recently. However, that's a whole different ball game, and I'm keen to take on Madden's six year-old who hasn't jumped over a stick in nearly two years.

Advice: Back Fleeting Chance to win, lay Dafarabad.

4:00 - Gain Stars Of Tomorrow (Pro/Am) INH Flat Race

I'm not a big fan of bumpers, but I'm once again going with the Colm Murphy trained horse Woodquest, largely based on his very good point-to-point form recently. Noel Meade and Nina Carberry are a formidable duo, and it will be interesting to see if any money comes in for Darceys Dancer.

Advice: Back Woodquest to win.

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