Punchestown Festival day 1 (Tuesday): horse racing tips from Ed Quigley
Top Tipster and Broadcaster, Ed 'Longshot Ted' Quigley is back, and serves up his best bets for the opening day of the 2024 Punchestown Festival...
Ted's Punchestown Festival tips for Tuesday, April 30
Find the following picks for day one races at Punchestown Festival. Play on the races with our best expert-rated horse racing betting sites:
- Punchestown 3.40 - Mystical Power - bet with bet365
- Punchestown 5.25 - Banbridge - bet with Copybet
- Punchestown 6.00 - Sandor Clegane each way - bet with BetMG
Punchestown 3.40 - Mystical Power
On paper this is a sensational line-up which sees the first four horses home in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle take each other on once again, and with added spice of the beaten favourite Tullyhill making the gig. Slade Steel showed real guts as well as class to power up the Cheltenham Hill and dine at the top table last month, where on deep ground he toughed it out to see off MYSTICAL POWER, but this time around I think this greater test of speed will serve the Willie Mullins representative better.
We saw evidence of that at Aintree last time out, where Mystical Power showed too many gears for the reopposing Firefox. The likelihood of much quicker ground will be very much in the favour of Mark Walsh's mount, whereas many of the others in here look like future chasing prospects. Mystical Power has had the one start over C&D , when winning the Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle in tremendous style, and he can stamp his class on the field here.
🏇 Back Mystical Power at bet365 🏇
Punchestown 5.25 - Banbridge
This is an intriguing clash, where a case can be made for quite a few of the participants here. The prospect of underfoot conditions that are substantially quicker than anything we have seen for some time in Ireland will really play to the strengths of the Joseph O'Brien trained BANBRIDGE. The ground was just far too soft for him in the Ryanair Chase and he failed to run a race. Previously to that, he produced a cracking run to beat Pic D'Orhy at Kempton on the back of a 275-day layoff.
With the ground drying out, this classy 8-year-old has the ability to run a big race here with the application of first-time cheekpieces looking to spark him up as he drops down in trip. J J Slevin takes the ride, and with no in-running shenanigans, he won't be far away as long as the ground remains on the quicker side.
🥇 Bet on Banbridge at Copybet 🥇
Punchestown 6.00 - Sandor Clegane each way
Monty's Star is the one to beat here, and for next season he is the horse I think is most likely to make up into a Cheltenham Gold Cup contender. However, he is short enough at the end of a long season, and one horse who could be capable of an upset is the Paul Nolan trained SANDOR CLEGANE, who has a bit to find on official figures, and although still a maiden in this sphere, he has run some very good races in defeat, including on very testing ground when behind Monty's Star in the Brown Advisory at the Cheltenham Festival last month.
However, Sandor Clegane has a terrific record at Punchestown - he has three wins from five visits here, and absolutely bolted up over Hurdles at this meeting 12 months ago. At a double figure price it wouldn't surprise me if he managed to get in the shake-up from an each-way perspective. Sean O'Keefe takes the ride on the gelding, and the combination get the nod from me here in this cracking renewal of the race.
🐎 Place a bet on Sandor Clegane each way at BetMGM 🐎
Don't forget Ed will be back on Wednesday for his best bets for Day 2 of the Punchestown Festival...
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