It was a mixed day at Punchestown on Thursday for my selections. In the 5.25 Flooring Porter failed to finish, the 10/3 favourite led early but made some slight mistakes which saw him weaken before the straight and he was pulled up at the last,the 5/1 chance Klassical Dream won by 9 lengths. At the other end of the scale Energumere left the field in his wake winning the Ryanair Novice Chase by a massive 16 lengths.
It's another busy day at Punchestown on Friday with two more grade one's,at 5.25 8 line-up for the Paddy Power Champion Hurdle. This is all about one horse Honeysuckle,this top-class mare made it 11 wins from 11 starts in impressive fashion taking the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham the 7th grade one of her career. She beat most of this races field that day and will be very hard to beat again. Abacadabras failed to show what he could do at Cheltenham falling at the 3rd but this smart hurdler bounced back to win the Aintree Hurdle by 1 1/4 lengths 22 days ago and he could be the main challenger. The other threat is Goshen who looked good when winning the Kingwell Hurdle at Wincanton in February but was a disappointing 8th at Cheltenham however a return to a right-handed track here will suit but he will still need a big performance to challenge. At 6.00 6 begin the Alanna Homes Champion Novice Hurdle. This race is also about one horse the brilliant Bob Olinger,he picked up his hat-trick win with a decisive display in the Ballymore at Cheltenham last month and should win again here. Gaillard Du Mesnil was a 7 1/2 length second in the same Cheltenham race and despite being a grade one winner at Leopardstown in February he should finish second here too. The best of the rest is Ashdale Bob who looked back on good form when taking a grade 2 at Fairyhouse on his return at the beginning of this month although it looks like he will only be fighting for minor honours here.
Big race predictions: 5.25: 8: Honeysuckle 6.00: 2: Bob Olinger.
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