Horse Racing Tips: Captain can command at Epsom while British raider appeals at Punchestown

Punchestown, 15:05 - Back Almuhit each-way @ 10/111.00

After the largely modest fair on offer at Sandown on Saturday, the cards at Punchestown represent a totally different level this week with the opening day action playing host to some fabulous talent.

Quite simply, the lack of Willie Mullins runners on a Sandown card also beset by late withdrawals because of drying ground, ensured it was a meeting without sparkle and lustre, but that doesn't appear to be the case across the Irish Sea this week.

Three opening day Grade 1s whet the appetite for the week to come with Mullins saddling 11 runners across the trio of marquee events and four of the five runners in the Champion Chase where only Barry Connell, Sean Flanagan and Marine Nationale stand in his way.

Thankfully for the English raiders and some of the home trainers, Mullins has just one contender in the Albert Bartlett Triple Crown Series Final, a race where the likes of Nicky Henderson, Olly Murphy, Charlie Longsdon, Henrietta Knight and Faye Bramley are also represented.

Bramley captured the final race of the British jumps season on Saturday with No Ordinary Joe and she is doubly represented with recent Sedgefield scorer Bright Legend and Almuhit who posted one of his career best efforts over hurdles in this race 12 months ago.

An attempt to go one better looks to have been a plan for a while as a trio of tune up runs over hurdles from January onwards preceded a recent trip to Scotland for a Musselburgh handicap which served as a final preparation outing.

The selection boasted the quality to be placed in a warm York handicap last summer and was only beaten a length-and-three-quarters on his previous trip to Punchestown last year so looks a fair each-way bet to go one better at double figure odds.

I was also tempted by Bright Legend and, to a lesser extent San Hilario who knows this track well, but with 25 runners it is the kind of race where backers can get lulled into having multiple bets with no success, so one selection will suffice.

Epsom, 15:50 - Back Asgard's Captain @ 10/34.33

Without wishing to sound like the prophet of doom, a total of 12 runners across the City & Surburban and Great Metropolitan Handicap is an abysmal return.

Both races have a rich tradition of producing well-contested events, but a paltry entry across the two contests is hugely disappointing and couldn't provide more of a contrast to events in Ireland this week.

Maybe Epsom's recent irrigation problems are to blame and this year is just an anomaly, but the current trend for the volume of runners in the City & Surburban is regressive over the last decade and seem to mirror a worrying trend for the Jockey Club-owned track which appears to have fallen out of favour with racing's practitioners.

Still, I'm not sure connections of Asgard's Captain will care one jot as they endeavour to follow up last year's victory in this race.

Young David Egan is replaced in the saddle by his fifty-something father John 12 months on, but as we saw recently at Newbury aboard Call My Bluff, the canny Egan remains a potent force in the saddle.

His stats when paired with Dylan Cunha's six-year-old read 313 and his mount acquitted himself well in three starts in the Middle East this winter so may have race sharpness on his side here.

Topteam and Sing Us A Song remain highly progressive, but if this race does become tactical, Egan may be well placed to take advantage on a horse that handles Epsom well.

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