Wednesday 30th April - Punchestown Festival, Ireland Yielding ground for the second day of the meeting and a glorious afternoon but small fields for the three Grade 1 championship races. Willie Mullins supplied four of the eight runners in the Channor Group Novices Hurdle over 4800m. Favourite was JASMIN DE VAUX and this French-bred had won the Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham. However, he faced a significant challenger in the form of Gordon Elliott's HONESTY POLICY who had won the Mersey at Aintree over 4000m. This was another step up in trip but the horse looked to have plenty of speed. I thought JASMIN DE VAUX made hard work of this and it probably wasn't one of Paul Townend's finest rides if truth be told. He ended up trapped behind horses after the second last as it turned into a dash for the line. A poor jump at the last didn't help and it needed every ounce of persuasion from the saddle and every yard of ground for the favourite to prevail. I thought HONESTY POLICY, by contrast, got a superb ride from Mark Walsh who saved every inch of ground and looked the likely winner approaching the last. Whether the horse was outbattled or didn't quite see out the trip I'm not sure but I think of the two, were they to jump fances next season, the one I'd be looking forward to more was HONESTY POLICY though on decent ground and over flatter tracks. JASMIN DE VAUX might go over fences or move into the open staying hurdle ranks, a division which looks weak. Just six went in the Champion INH Flat Race over 3200m and once again Mullins had the favourite with the unbeaten Cheltenham Bumper winner BAMBINO FEVER. once again partnered by Paul Townend's sister, Jody.  A routine but impressive win for BAMBINO FEVER and the two mares, in receipt of the 7 lb allowance, routed the four geldings and some are already asking questions about the weight allowance and whether it needs to be as significant in Bumpers. That casts a slight shadow over BAMBINO FEVER's win but the mare obviously has an engine and it'll be fascinating to see if she goes into open novice company next year or whether they'll target mares-only races - clearly, the longer term paddock value would be enhanced if she could win more Grade 1 races. It's also worth noting, having beaten SWITCH FROM DIESEL seven and a half lengths at the Dublin Racing Festival in February, the gap was cut to two and a half lengths here and I do think the runner up could be very useful over some extra ground. Just four went to post for the feature of the afternoon, the Punchestown Gold Cup over 5000m. Clear on ratings was Gold Cup runner up GALOPIN DES CHAMPS but Punchestown hasn't been a happy venue for this horse over recent seasons but with no FASTORSLOW in the mix and three inferior opponents, this was his opportunity to lay a few ghosts to rest. An impressive win by the former champion and a faultless display apart from being spooked by the path passing the winning post. He just jumped and galloped these into submission with BANBRIDGE in particular broken and beaten long before the finish. SPILLANE'S TOWER comprehensively reversed King George form with BANBRIDGE but he came here a fresh horse having swerved both Cheltenham and Aintree so ran okay but he was 22 lengths off the winner and that tells you a lot. GALOPIN DES CHAMPS is a very good horse and I'm sure connections will be looking forward to rematches with INOWTHEWAYURTHINKIN both on the road to and at Cheltenham next season and the two currently dominate the staying chase division for all there are some decent performers who will contest the races at the flatter tracks. I hope BANBRIDGE will return to his best after a summer break - he's a wonderful lepper and this was too much at the end of a long season.

Our man Matt states they are building consistency. Listed race 120k Group 3 110k hard to imagine that's consistent

Yes fantastic isn't it. I live less than 10 minutes from the track and it dawned another fine day here. Threatened to rain earlier in the day but never came and sun for the majority of the day with a decent amount of heat (around 14-15 degrees all day). There will be no significant dews over the next 2 mornings. Forecasted to be around 5-7mls of rain from tomorrow morning until early hours of Saturday if we get little to none it might even come back to a 6.

Finishing order described above will determine the results in the Points comp and the H2H matches.  So for the H2H matches the winner will be the person who survives the longest.  If both participants in the H2h survive until the end, or are both eliminated in the same race, the winner will be the entrant with the most dollars earned over 12 races.  In the unlikely event of a tie for total dollars earned, the entrant with the least lives lost will be the winner and if that is the same then the higher seeded entrant will progress. For the Total $$$ earned comp, entrants score for this round will be the number of dollars earned at the point sat which they are eliminated.  They won't continue to earn dollars after that.

Race 7 AINGIE Humanely euthanised

Did one go amiss today at Riccarton???

I'll be there for the first time in six years but I note that the stingy bastards don't even offer a free drink or drink voucher for owners. First time I've encountered that for a long time but I guess I'll manage.

Good run CREAM TART yesterday at Matamata… https://loveracing.nz/RaceInfo/53404/2/Race-Detail.aspx  

Malakai top at $5.50 might not be a bad option . Gees Marketplace $1.28 I bet people are sweating out there 

Already back to a S7 this afternoon I see. Should suit most horses.

I could be wrong but I think a similar thing may have happened with the Southern Supremacy series where you had to start twice in Southland to be eligible for the final & later it was changed to once.  Apologies in advance if I’m misinformed. 

Not sure if he knows more or just has the balls to print it. I have been privy to some juicy bits of information well before it was reported in the media several times but there is no way I would have the guts to put it in writing in full public view. 

https://www.facebook.com/reel/1412184829969281 Is this for Real ?!!!  

Yesterday morning there was another NZ Harness story on the PP site, it is always a concern that he knows more about what is happening here, than is reported by NZ media. This story relates to the IRT 2YO Young Guns Final Mobile Trot, and the inclusion of the winner, Duchess Maria, in the field, even though she had not raced in either of the two heats. The Final should have consisted of the first 5 home in each of the heats, the heats only had fields of 5, and 3 horses competed in both heats, with the resting of Suttle that left a field of 6 for the Final, except it didn't, there were 7, with the inclusion of the new entry Duchess Maria. Apparently HRNZ changed the rules, without public notification or consultation, and then proceeded to tell a small number of connections that they could enter their horse in the Final without having competed in one of the heats, obviously the connections of Duchess Maria were part of this "select" group, and were the only ones to take advantage of this. In my opinion when you enter a heat in a series like this, it is essentially a contract, and I don't see how you can change it after the running of the first heat. The Mark Jones trained Redpark Warrior, won both heats and was second in the Final, I believe he has a great case for claiming the extra $20,000 he should have won if the late comer was not there, as well as the other runners claim to additional stakes, one place higher than they received.    

ooh just sneaked in .. that's what I call an economical performance..  

You are playing whoever you are drawn with, so first thing you need to do is beat them.

With the H2H draw done last week, what happens to that?

What the latest deal really means - $96B Boeing/GE deal = LARGEST aviation order EVER • 150,000+ American jobs ANNUALLY • Million+ jobs total impact • Real paychecks for REAL Americans BUT THAT'S JUST THE BEGINNING...  Think that's big? Just wait... • $8.5B McDermott energy deal • $97B Parsons infrastructure projects • $1B quantum computing investment And this is just the START MASSIVE defense wins: • $3B Raytheon/General Atomics deals • First international buyer of FS-LIDS anti-drone system • MQ-9B aircraft exports America LEADING again!  Let me break this down: We're not talking theoretical numbers These are REAL JOBS in: • Kansas • South Carolina • Ohio And dozens more states!  The FAKE NEWS or Hoki media won't tell you: • $2B trade SURPLUS with Qatar • $3.3B Qatar investment in US (2023) • 20+ years of positive trade balance   CRITICAL CONTEXT: Trump secured $1.8T in foreign investment in just 48 HOURS! • Qatar: $1.2T • Saudi Arabia: Yesterday's massive $600B deal America is open for business! And that means JOBS  Remember when they said he couldn't do diplomacy? Now he's: • Rebuilding American manufacturing • Creating MILLIONS of jobs • Securing energy independence What did Biden do? Just give Afghanistan to the Taliban, let Russia invade Ukraine, and close our oil fields  The Left is PANICKING because this proves: • America First works • Trump's instincts were right • Strength gets results  The message is clear: Peace through PROSPERITY Not through APPEASEMENT And American jobs FIRST   CHOO CHOO

Avoriaz at Riccarton down from the James stable….

We had one run at Matamata yesterday on a (unfair) bog track. Jockeys said it was a Heavy 11.  Fast Lane/Slow Lanes Bah!  It aint romantic