The featured €275,000 Ladbrokes Champion Stayers Hurdle underlines how stamina is what it says on the festival tin for Day 3 of Punchestown. A total of eight runners in the big race includes the quirky cross-channel star Paisley Park who makes his first start in Ireland.
However, with the dual-Cheltenham Stayers champion Flooring Porter absent, it is last year’s winner Klassical Dream who tops the betting to become the first back-to-back scorer since Queveaga.
Backing up Thursday’s endurance theme will be Ireland’s longest race, the four-and-a-quarter mile Mongey La Touche Cup over the Cross-Country course. Enda Bolger hasn’t won since 2018 which constitutes a near-famine for the ‘Banks King’ with 14 La Touche victories in all.
He relies on Shady Operator this time in a 17-strong field that also includes last year’s shock 33-1 winner Singing Banjo and Vital Island who scored on Tuesday.
There is another three-mile hurdle later on the card but to balance things out Thursday …
- April 28, 2022
