Tweet

racing news /

Wide Open Punchestown Gold Cup Can Go The Way of Quel Esprit 23/04/12

Despite not quite having the same prestige as the Cheltenham Gold Cup, the Punchestown equivalent is still regarded as the feature race of the annual Punchestown Festival, which begins on Tuesday 24th April with the "blue riband event" taking place on Wednesday.

Quito De La Roque
© Caroline Norris

Raced over 3m1f, the race until very recently was a great one for favourites, with five jollies taking the top prize in the five years between 2002 and 2006. It was recent Aintree Grand National winner, Neptune Collonges, who bucked that trend in 2007 but he returned a year later to land the prize back-to-back, the second time as the 9/10 odds on favourite. Notre Pere was the 15/8 favourite who won in 2009 but for the last two renewals it has been 14/1 shot, Planet Of Sound in 2010 and then the 20/1 outsider, Follow The Plan 12 months ago.

This year, the Punchestown Gold Cup betting has a reasonably open feel to it with the likely favourite being Quito De La Roque, who's cuurrently a 7/2 chance and was last seen finishing in third place, 11 lengths behind the ill fated Synchronised, in the Grade One Lexus Chase over 3 miles at Leopardstown Christmas meeting.

Rubi Light
© Caroline Norris

To win this race however, Quito De La Roque will have to see off the Robert Hennessy trained Rubi Light, who was second in the Lexus Chase, three lengths clear of Quito De La Roque. He comes to the race having finished fifth last time out in the Grade One Ryanair Chase behind Riverside Theatre at the Cheltenham Festival.

The main challenge from England comes in the form of the Philip Hobbs trained Captain Chris, who finished 1½ lengths in front of Rubi Light in the Ryanair in fourth place. However, there are certainly questions being asked about his ability to the three miles and he has had a very inconsistent season after showing great promise last term but still remains 5/1 in the market.

Quantativeeasing from the Nicky Henderson stable will be stepping up hugely in class but was good enough to defeat the useful Medermit in a Grade Three Chase at Cheltenham over 2m5f in December. After his string of chasing successes at the Cheltenham Festival, it would be foolhardy to rule out any entry from the Seven Barrows stable, although to win this the seven year old will have to produce a career best performance, which explains his odds of 16/1 with MansionBet .

Quel Esprit
© Caroline Norris

Oliver McKiernan’s Follow The Plan proved that last year’s success was no fluke by claiming the Grade 1 Betfred Bowl Chase at Aintree a fortnight ago. However he would appear to have plenty to find with Quel Esprit on recent Hennessy Gold Cup form, in which he finished over 8 lengths back in fourth place.

Quel Esprit is another who has every chance of going off as the favourite and he should go very close if he can reproduce the form he showed in the Hennessy which he won by 2 lengths from Roberto Goldback. His trainer, Willie Mullins has had no luck in recent years in this race with his last winner, the great Florida Pearl coming way back in 2002. Quel Esprit had been in great form in the early part of the season, winning all three of his races, but a dip in form at home just prior to the Cheltenham Festival kept him out of the Gold Cup. Assuming the grey is now back to his best, he will take all the beating on Wednesday and sets a very high standard.