Punchestown Festival Day Tips: Thursday 30 April 2026

Punchestown Festival Day Tips: Thursday 30 April 2026

Yielding ground across the Punchestown park today, which suits the big-staying types and will sort the men from the boys in a card that has genuine Grade 1 quality at the top end. Eight races, three pattern events, and enough handicap firepower in between to keep the betting interesting all afternoon. Here is where the value sits.

2:30 — Specialist Group Novice Hurdle

This is a wide-open novice but the race makes sense when you filter it down. Leader d'Allier heads the market with Paul Townend in the plate, but his form figure of 4 last time out gives pause. The real interest is in Nadia's Boy Each-Way at 8/1 with Bet365, trained by Willie Mullins and ridden by Sean O'Keeffe. This horse is unbeaten in three starts, winning a point, a bumper at Kilbeggan, and a maiden hurdle at Listowel where he beat the useful Frankie John. He is not the stable's first-string today, but Mullins regularly fires in two-horse salvos and his 8/56 yard form in the last 14 days still represents a busy, active operation. Nadia's Boy has the profile of a horse returning from a well-placed break, and three places at 1/5 in an 11-runner field with a monster yard behind him makes 8/1 genuinely attractive each-way.

Selection: Nadia's Boy — 8/1 Bet365 (each-way)

3:05 — Close Brothers Irish EBF Mares Novice Hurdle (Listed)

A six-runner Listed contest and the form centres on the Willie Mullins trio. Future Prospect gets Paul Townend and arrives off a better run at Fairyhouse in a Grade 1, but her tendency to race keenly is a concern back at 2m½f after being pulled up at Cheltenham over this trip. Diamond Du Berlais, ridden by Patrick Mullins, is the selection. She ran a cracker in the Mares' Novice Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival over this exact trip, and the booking of the yard's amateur champion in a six-runner Listed race tells you plenty about how the camp rates this one. At 13/8 with William Hill, she is not long odds, but the case is straightforward: Cheltenham form that franked itself on the day, a trip she handles, and the Mullins machine firing for connections. She is the one to beat and the price is fair enough to side with her.

Selection: Diamond Du Berlais — 13/8 William Hill

3:40 — Mongey Communications La Touche Cup Cross Country Chase

The La Touche Cup is one of the great spectacles of the Punchestown Festival, and this year it sets up as a fascinating three-horse race at the top of the market. Desertmore House is the defending champion over this course in cross-country terms and comes in at 3/1, while Busselton beat him in this race last year before the two swapped positions in November. Vanillier at 9/4 with William Hill is the call. Keith Donoghue partners a horse who has placed in three consecutive Glenfarclas Cross Country Chases at Cheltenham, including this year, and who came alive again when beating The Goffer over this course in February. That February run was a materially different performance to his remote sixth behind Desertmore House in November, and the key factor is that he appeared to rediscover his enthusiasm on familiar Punchestown terrain. Gavin Cromwell's yard is showing 5/58 over 14 days which is a yard ticking over rather than firing at full volume, but Vanillier's course and distance form is the standout angle in this race.

Selection: Vanillier — 9/4 William Hill

4:15 — Conway Piling Handicap Hurdle (Listed)

Twenty-six runners over 2m7½f on yielding ground. This is a race where the each-way market becomes the main event, and the bet here is Karl Des Tourelles Each-Way at 15/2 with William Hill or Coral. Philip Fenton's six-year-old has only one hurdle win to his name but he ran fourth in this exact race last year off the same handicap mark of 149, and his run in the Martin Pipe at Cheltenham last time was better than it looked, meeting trouble in running. The form from that Cheltenham run drops him into a competitive but findable mark here. Six places at 1/5 in a 26-runner field is generous each-way architecture, and a horse who has already shown he handles this race, this course, and this trip is worth staking each-way at best price. Brian Hayes takes the ride for a yard with one winner from six in the last fortnight, which is not alarming in this context.

Selection: Karl Des Tourelles — 15/2 William Hill or Coral (each-way)

4:50 — Frontline Security Handicap Chase (Listed)

Twenty runners, five places paid, and the race looks wide open despite the market being relatively compact at the top. Raffles Dolce Vita at 15/2 with Bet365 is the angle. Thomas Gibney's five-year-old was soundly beaten in his first three starts over fences, then left that form well behind when beating Come Walk With Me at Leopardstown. That rival has since had an 11lb rise applied to his mark, which tells you the form has franked. Raffles Dolce Vita is the youngest horse in the race, rated 145, and the Spotlight commentary makes the point that he is probably the runner with the most untapped potential in the field. J J Slevin is a top-class pilot for a horse on a progressive curve. Five places at 1/5 makes this a credible each-way play, but at 15/2 you could also take him to win.

Selection: Raffles Dolce Vita — 15/2 Bet365

5:25 — Barberstown Castle Novice Chase (Grade 1)

Five runners and a market dominated by one horse. Kopek Des Bordes at 2/5 is the outstanding novice chaser in training and the Arkle run at Cheltenham, where he ran a cracker despite having had a chip removed from his knee and limited chasing experience, only reinforces that. Paul Townend rides, Willie Mullins trains, and the RPR of 169 in a five-runner Grade 1 tells the full story. There is no each-way value in a five-runner race at odds-on, and taking him to win at 2/5 is simply the right call if you want to be in the race. The secondary interest is Irish Panther at 6/1, who ran respectably in the Champion Chase and could make a bold bid for second at least. But the winner is Kopek Des Bordes and this is as close to a formality as Grade 1 racing gets.

Selection: Kopek Des Bordes — 2/5 Bet365

6:05 — Ladbrokes Champion Stayers Hurdle (Grade 1)

The feature race of the day and the one everyone has been building towards. Teahupoo at 2/1 is the horse who has won this race before, added Grade 1s at Fairyhouse and Leopardstown this season, and whose Cheltenham run was out of character rather than a form collapse. Jack Kennedy takes over in the saddle, and blinkering him for the first time suggests Gordon Elliott wants a sharper, more focused display. This horse has an RPR of 170, which is the highest in the field by a considerable margin. Bob Olinger at 3/1 with Bet365 is a legitimate danger, third in the Aintree Stayers and a horse who beat Teahupoo here last year. Kawaboomga at 4/1 is interesting on the back of his Fairyhouse run but this trip is unexplored territory for him. Teahupoo at 2/1 on yielding ground he handles, in a race he has won, for a yard that has him cherry-ripe. Back him.

Selection: Teahupoo — 2/1 William Hill, Coral, or Betfred

Today's NAP