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Alan Kelly's Tips - Tuesday, 28 April
Ireland’s Punchestown Festival gets underway on Tuesday afternoon, the highlight being the William Hill Champion Chase at 6:05pm.
Yielding ground is expected on the opening day, while Epsom’s card featuring the Blue Riband (Derby) Trial is expected to take place on going described as good to firm, good in places.
3:40pm Punchestown - Larzac & Putapoundinthejar
My two against the field for this valuable contest are LARZAC, one of five Willie Mullins-trained contenders, and PUTAPOUNDINTHEJAR from the Tony Martin yard.
The Mullins’ pair of Karbau and Murcia head the weights for this extended 2m Listed handicap hurdle. However, It is a Closutton runner much further down the handicap who makes more appeal in the shape of Larzac, one of two J P McManus-owned contenders, the other being stablemate Davy Crockett with jockey Mark Walsh on board.
We have yet to see the best of Larzac since the No Risk At All gelding joined Mullins at the beginning of last year after finishing a short head second on his only start in France at Auteuil, the winner of that race, Live Conti, now with Dan Skelton and with a rating of 143.
Making his handicap debut in a valuable 2m 3f contest at Cork earlier this month, Simon Torres’ mount looked like justifying favouritism when taking the lead 3 out after travelling strongly, only for the five-year-old to weaken into fourth place in the closing stages. Off a mark of 123 and over this two and a half furlong shorter trip, Larzac is fancied to go close.
The booking of champion jockey Sean Bowen for the Tony Martin-trained Putapountinthejar takes the eye, the Walk In The Park gelding victorious at this meeting last year with Bowen in the saddle and fresh from a win on the Flat at Bellewstown 17 days ago. Sixth behind Alexei off a mark of 133 in Cheltenham’s Greatwood Hurdle back in November, the six-year-old looks to have been laid out for this race by his shrewd stable, and off a 9lb lower mark than at Prestbury Park, a big run is expected.
Kalix Delabarriere and Nicky Henderson’s British raider Khrisma are the others to consider.
Recommendation: Larzac - 10/1 with bet365 & Putapoundinthejar - 12/1 with bet365
3:50pm Epsom - Sing Us A Song
Epsom’s earlier Blue Riband (Derby) Trial is unlikely to have any bearing on the outcome at Epsom on Saturday 6th June and is best watched with top rated New Zealand almost certain to improve for the run, as has been the case with many Ballydoyle runners this season.
From a betting perspective, I’m more interested in this once-famous Great Metropolitan Handicap, now a shadow of its former self when on a par with many of the season’s most valuable handicaps. Dylan Cunha’s Asgard's Captain ran out an easy winner of the race 12 months ago off a 6lb lower mark, the six-year-old fresh from a spell in Meydan.
Third in a UAE handicap on his most recent start last month, John Egan’s mount will be fancied by many to win back-to-back renewals, while Andrew Balding’s Topteam (3 from 6 on turf) is hard to dismiss following his all-the-way victory on Kempton Park’s all-weather surface earlier in the month.
I think we have yet to see the best of Ralph Beckett’s top weight SING US A SONG however, the Camelot gelding ruining his chances when showing signs of temperament in valuable handicaps at Royal Ascot and Glorious Goodwood last season following a comfortable victory at Sandown around this time last year.
After being gelded, James Doyle's mount looked a lot more straightforward when ending the year with a victory over 1m 6f at Haydock in September. I think there is a decent middle-distance prize to be won with the Wathnan Racing-owned four-year-old this season, who is fancied to concede the weight to his four rivals on his reappearance.
Recommendation: Sing Us A Song
6:05pm Punchestown - Il Etait Temps (Nap)
Despite a field of only five for this Grade 1 William Hill Champion Chase, the extended 2m test of speed and jumping promising to be a cracking race, the four Willie Mullins-trained contenders headed by last month’s impressive Queen Mother Champion Chase winner IL ETAIT TEMPS (Nap).
The grey son of Jukebox Jury was my banker of the week at the Prestbury Park festival, the sight of the eight-year-old quickening away from his rivals after jumping the second-last fence my personal highlight of the week. Despite the presence of a couple of seriously talented rivals in stablemate Majborough and the Barry Connell-trained Marine National, I expect Paul Townsend's mount to make it 9 wins from 12 starts since going over the bigger obstacles.
Majborough will need to jump a lot better than he did when seventh behind Il Etait Temps at Cheltenham if he is to stand any chance of reversing that form, Mark Walsh’s mount having previously been very impressive in beating Marine National by 19 lengths in the Dublin Chase at the DRF.
The latter goes into today’s race a fresh horse having had just the two runs since winning this race 12 months ago. The mount of Sean Flanagan, sporting headgear for the first time, looks the main danger to the selection in a fascinating renewal.
Recommendation: Il Etait Temps (Nap) - 7/4 with Ladbrokes
* Betting odds correct at the time of publication. All odds are subject to changes.
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About Alan Kelly
A passionate follower of horse racing for over 50 years, Alan has enjoyed a 40-year career in the betting industry, 28 of which he spent running his betting shop as an owner/manager.
A successful punter with a keen eye for value, Alan has had many betting highlights, including a Scoop 6 win and has shown a consistent profit in the battle with bookmakers since joining Freebets.com in 2008.
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