Punchestown Day One: Four Outsiders to Consider as He Returns to His Best

We have identified four outsiders who could run a big race. The five-year-old took a number of runs to get going this term, but his last three outings have all yielded an improved Racing Post Rating and he has started to show more consistency.

He won’t mind any juice in the ground having won in testing conditions at this venue, and the form can be marked up as that race has since produced three winners. After winning a hat-trick of bumpers, he beat subsequent Cheltenham Festival hero Ballyburn on his hurdling debut.

The seven-year-old posted a career-best effort when winning a series final at Haydock last time and this was the race Derham identified as his next target. He seems to relish testing ground, so if the expected rain arrives it will not be an issue, while the form of his Newcastle win on his penultimate start has been franked by the runner-up, Horn Cape, who won at the same track on his sole start since.

The Gordon Elliott-trained seven-year-old finished a well-beaten fifth of six last month due to some major jumping errors. However, earlier in the season he had beaten the likes of subsequent Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase winner Fact To File and Saturday’s bet365 Gold Cup scorer Minella Cocooner in a couple of victories at Navan.

The most recent success came in a Grade 2 over 3m, so he has the stamina for this race and will handle any testing conditions underfoot. Racing Post has got the best offers, all in one place.