Cheltenham losers could turn the tables at Punchestown this year

So often the Cheltenham bridesmaids are the belles of the Punchestown ball and that may be the case again in 2024.
Cheltenham is often a guide on form but it's only a day in the life of these racehorses and some are just made for the sunshine in Kildare over the mud of Gloucestershire.

We're being optimistic on the weather front there, but nevertheless, the sun could shine for these five Cheltenham losers at Punchestown.

BRIGHTERDAYSAHEAD
Brighterdaysahead was one of the proverbial ‘good things’ at the Cheltenham festival in March, or so we all thought. She was on the tip of every tipster’s tongue on the preview circuit and was sent off a strongly-fancied odds-on favourite for Gordon Elliott and jockey Jack Kennedy in the Mares’ Novices’ hurdle.

While she accounted for other leading Irish hopes Jade De Grugy and Birdie or Bust, no one expected the British-trained Golden Ace to beat her up the hill, and comfortably so too.

She redeemed herself with an impressive victory at Aintree and holds three entries in Punchestown, including the two Champion Novice Hurdles and the Mares’ Champion Hurdle. She could potentially lock horns with either Lossiemouth or Ballyburn depending on her final destination, but she’ll be well-supported and well-fancied on the day. She’s a star in the making for sure.

MONTY’S STAR
Monty’s Star bumped into one of the most spectacular winners of the week at Cheltenham in the shape of Fact To File from the Willie Mullins yard in the Brown Advisory. He’ll tackle the same distance at Punchestown in the Dooley Insurance Group Champion Novice Chase but won’t have Fact To File to worry about.

The Henry De Bromhead trained seven-year-old stayed all the way to the line at Cheltenham and was just beaten by a better horse, maybe one of the best staying chasers around at the moment. Monty’s Star also has winning Punchestown form in the book from his Beginner’s Chase win over the talented Three Card Brag on heavy ground in December. He is the horse I’m looking forward to most at Punchestown this year. I think he’ll win.

EL FABIOLO
A collective groan echoed around Prestbury Park when El Fabiolo was pulled up in Champion Chase. Not only because so many people had him backed in multiple bets with quite a few other Willie Mullins winners in that week, but also because he is one of those box office horses; a real star.

The race really needed his star power, and that’s no slight against the winner Captain Guinness, but he just doesn’t quite have the ‘champion’ credentials of El Fabiolo. El Fabiolo went into Cheltenham on the back of a seven-race winning streak, where he accounted easily for the likes of Banbridge, Dinoblue, Dysart Dynamo and recent Aintree winner Jonbon along the way.

He’s entered in the William Hill Champion Chase on the first day of the Punchestown festival and could be the star of the show. He’ll take all the beating if none the worse for his brush with a few fences at Cheltenham. It helps that he’s run twice and won twice at the Kildare track.

MYSTICAL POWER
Mystical Power is in the KPMG Champion Novice Hurdle on the first day of the Punchestown meeting and if he turns up, he’ll be a very popular horse with punters.

The son of former hurdling heroine Annie Power, Mystical Power made up for his runner-up run behind Slade Steel in the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham with a fine win at Aintree. That prompted Willie Mullins to mull over the option of bringing him to Punchestown at all. He said “he owes us nothing” for the season.

Slade Steel is in the same race at Punchestown and will be fresher having skipped Liverpool, but a rematch would be a sight to behold for racegoers. He, however lost his last race at Punchestown to Ballyburn, while Mystical Power was last seen here streaking clear of rivals to win the Grade 2 Moscow Flyer in December. It’ll be a tough choice for punters.

BANBRIDGE
If we learned one thing for sure about Banbridge at Cheltenham it was that he is very much ground dependent. He was mentioned at all the Cheltenham previews as a horse with a huge chance in the Ryanair, but almost all the tipster’s tempered their enthusiasm with the line, ‘if the ground dries out.’

The ground was officially soft on the day but was extremely sticky after atrocious weather in the lead-up to the festival. Poor Banbridge was tailed off as a result.

As the ladies glamming up for Ladies Day this year hope for good weather, so too are the connections of Banbridge. Trainer Joseph O’Brien will be praying for a heatwave so the Kildare soil dries up and his charge can have his day in the sun. He’s entered in both the William Hill Champion Chase over two miles and Ladbrokes Punchestown Gold Cup over three miles. All of his best form is over shorter than three miles, suggesting he’ll go in the Champion Chase where he’ll have to face off with El Fabiolo. What a prospect that would be on better ground!