Punchestown Tuesday Tips: Mark Milligan backs Sir Gerhard to fulfil chasing potential

• Mark Milligan is back with a couple of selections

• Sir Gerhard to prove himself over fences

• Tekao to get back on track from lenient mark

With the Aintree Grand National meeting barely out of sight in the rear-view mirror, the top-clash jumps racing continues this week with five excellent days of racing at Punchestown, starting with a trio of Grade 1 races on the opening day.

The 2m Champion Novice Hurdle (16:15) kicks off the top-level action and it's fair to say this field is very much quality over quantity, as only five runners head to post.

Facile Vega went to Cheltenham with his reputation somewhat dented after a dismal showing at the Dublin Racing Festival but he went a long way to putting that right with a solid runner-up finish Supreme, where he arguably might have given Marine Nationale even more of a race had he been held on to a shade longer.

It's a bit of stretch to say he'd have beaten that rival on the day but it was a still a sterling effort from Willie Mullins' 6-y-o and he'll be a warm order to go one better in this contest.

Prices in the 1.695/7 region seem about right and I'm certainly in no hurry to take him on, this very much a race to watch rather than bet in.

Energumene should get the job done

Similar sentiments apply to Energumene in the 2m Champion Chase at 17:25, as he bounced back from a rather flat effort to land the Queen Mother Champion Chase at Cheltenham last time.

He holds a big class advantage over his five rivals in this contest and current odds of 1.42/5 seem to perfectly sum up his chances.

Energumene need only reproduce the form of his last run and he'll be a convincing winner of this, though obviously he represents no value at the prices.

As for the forecast, perhaps one of his stable companions Gentleman Du Mee or Blue Lord will chase him home, though if you'd told me a year ago that Chacun Pour Soi would be 33/1 for this race I'd have been astonished.

He's getting on now a bit but it would be nice to see the veteran run a decent race, though all his form this season suggest he's a light of former days.

Another no-bet race for me.

Sir Gerhard to put it all together

The final Grade 1 of the day is the 3m Champion Novice Chase at 18:35, and this is a race that makes some appeal from a betting point of view.

Henry de Bromhead's Journey With Me has a compelling profile and will come into this fresher than most having skipped both Cheltenham and Aintree. He ran out a convincing winner of a Grade 3 at Naas in March and prior to that had finished a good second to Cheltenham Mrs Paddy Power Mares' Chase winner Impervious.

Both those efforts give him sound claims, though I'm sticking with Sir Gerhard, who has yet to fulfil his potential as a chaser but was much improved last time and seems to be putting it all together now.

He was far from fluent when winning on debut, and again when well beaten in the Brown Advisory at Cheltenham last time, but he jumped much more soundly when runner-up to stablemate Flame Bearer at Fairyhouse last time and can win this if putting in another good round.

Willie Mullins also fields Appreciate It, Classic Getaway and James Du Berlais, but I'm of the firm belief that Sir Gerhard is classier than that trio and just needs to put it all together in the jumping department to go on and establish himself as a top-class performer over the larger obstacles.

Unexposed Tekao on a fair mark

My other bet on the day comes in the extended 2m handicap hurdle at 16:50, where the lightly-raced Tekao is hard to resist getting plenty of weight from his main rivals.

The winner of a juvenile maiden at Leopardstown in December, Willie Mullins' 4-y-o then ran an absolute cracker when shunted into Grade 1 compnay at the Dublin Racing Festival, finishing third to Gala Marceau and subsequent Triumph winner Lossiemouth.

Sent off a well-backed 3/1 favourite for the Fred Winter at Cheltenham on the back of that excellent run, Tekao never really got the chance to show his form in that contest, ending up being badly hampered three from home, that certainly not the race to judge him on.

The fact is if he reverts to the sort of form he showed at the DRF, he could be chucked into his first handicap from a mark of just 130, as he's almost certainly going to prove much better than that sort of rating in the future.

I wouldn't read too much into Mark Walsh being on Brazil, as he'd struggle to do the sort of weight Tekao carries and the selection looks a knocking each-way bet at the very least with five places available on the Sportsbook.