Sandown and Punchestown - The End of the Season

National Hunt racing draws to a close on Saturday with excellent, quality racing at Punchestown and Sandown, with Graded racing at both tracks.

Staring with a horse who could be well in is BOURNE based on his good handicap win at Ascot. He was underperformed at Aintree and Cheltenham, where the ground was very hard. On a softer surface he could be worth taking a chance on.

SOMERSBY is a model of versatility and consistency and the Grade 2 Celebration Chase looks there for the taking. With a depleted field, French Opera is a good ground horse, Wishful Thinking has been poor this season, and Sanctuaire has only had two races over fences. A stiff, testing two miles is ideal for the Henrietta Knight horse.

In the Bet365 Gold Cup, there are some great value to be had due to soft ground specialists Le Beau Bai and West End Rocker heading the market on the rain sodden ground. That being said I like of three each way, TULLAMORE DEW, VIKING BLOND and DEEP PURPLE, all at good prices. Tullamore Dew ran a cracking race at Sandown in February behind Cappa Bleu, who ran a stormer in the National and the extra testing conditions could suit. Same with Deep Purple, who won over course and distance, winning the southern national earlier in the year. The Twiston-Davies yard is in great heart at the minute, having a treble at Perth on Wednesday. Viking Blond has all his best form on soft ground and conditions will be ideal. He fell at the first in The National and that can be overlooked.

At Punchestown, the first race is one of the infamous Cross Country races, and Sizing Australia leads the market, but he has no form on soft ground and can be overlooked. Edna Bolger farms these sort of races and ON THE FRINGE has been smashed up in the market and looks the perfect type for this. Good runs in the champion hunter chases this season and JT McNamara, winner of the Four Miler at Cheltenham on board, everything looks perfect for him.

The Gold Cup looks a relatively poor renewal and it could be worth taking a chance on QUANTITATIVEEASING who I have been a long time admirer of. The seven year old won the Spinal Research handicap at Cheltenham, and followed that up with a respectable seventh at the Festival, when never really travelling. He will love the extra juice in the ground, and the field as previously mentioned looks under par. With AP McCoy and Nicky Henderson both having stellar seasons, it would be a fitting finale.

FOILDUBH is one of these stereotypical Irish mudlarks who just loves the heavy going. All his form is on soft in the 3.55 Class A handicap, and two vital clues that he will show his true colours is that Paul Carberry has been booked and the money has come for him. Behind Bob Lingo last time out, but is weighted to reverse the form.

The champion four year old hurdle was won by my personal favourite Grandouet last year, who I followed off a cliff at Cheltenham and Aintree, and similar success can come across the Irish Sea in BALDER SUCCESS, for Alan King who hacked up at Ascot in extremely soft conditions. He fell in the Triumph but was previously unbeaten and looks a class act. He looks rather unexposed in comparision to his rivals and could take the beating in the conditions, where he has proven form.

UNE ARTISTE runs in the mares race and looks a penalty kick given her previous two runs at Cheltenham. Winning the Fred Winter, then a decent mares race two weeks ago, she thrived in the soft conditions. Geraghty and Henderson are in terrific form with Oscara Dara winning one of the top juvenile races yesterday, and she sets an impressive standard.

The last race looks a puzzle but Drive Time could hold the answers for Willie Mullins and Paul Townend in the colours of Graham and Andrew Wylie. Dropped into handicap company after winning two novice hurdles, he could be thrown in and could be anything. This is his first run for the new stable since switching from Howard Johnson and the well bred seven year old could have a lot of potential. In on a mark of 125, he clearly hasn’t been the easiest to train, but at around the 16/1 mark, looks well worth a punt.

2.00 Sandown – Bourne
2.35 Sandown – Somersby (Nap)
3.10 Sandown – Viking Blond Ew, Tullamore Dew Ew, Deep Purple Ew

2.40 Punchestown – On The Fringe (Nb)
3,15 Punchestown – Quantitativeeasing
3.55 Punchestown – Foildubh
4.30 Punchestown – Balder Success
5.05 Punchestown – Une Artiste
5.40 Punchestown – Drive Time