); Mullins had his 15th championship in the bag before Punchestown but it didn’t stop him dominating
Donn McClean takes a look back at the 2021 Punchestown Festival and Willie Mullins’ 19-winner haul. By Donn McClean Tuesday 4 May 2021, 7:00 AM 3 hours ago 1,575 Views 1 Comment
GOING INTO THE Punchestown Festival in 2018, one week to go in the 2017/18 Irish National Hunt season, and Willie Mullins trailed Gordon Elliott by over €500,000 in the trainers’ championship.
You knew that Willie Mullins would be strong at Punchestown but, even so, it was a fair gap, and the bookmakers made Gordon Elliott favourite to claim his first title.
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Punchestown Saturday preview & tips: Timeform best bets
By Adam Houghton
19:50 · FRI April 30, 2021
Adam Houghton outlines the Timeform view on the action on the fifth and final day of the Punchestown Festival.
Punchestown Festival tips: Saturday May 1
Concertista in 3.20 Punchestown
Willie Mullins has been utterly dominant at Punchestown this week and looks to hold another strong hand in the Coolmore Kew Gardens Irish EBF Mares Champion Hurdle (15:20), the first of two Grade 1 events on the final day of the meeting.
Mullins is responsible for four of the nine runners as he seeks an eighth success in the race since 2010, including the 2019 runner-up Stormy Ireland, who has returned to her former stable after a spell with Paul Nicholls which included a few tries over fences. She proved at least as good as ever on her first start back in Ireland when winning a Grade 2 contest at Fairyhouse last time, making all the running to beat the smart French Dynamite by a length and a qua
Tough times but not all doom and gloom at Punchestown
Conor O Neill, CEO talks all things about the home of National Hunt
Conor O Neill, CEO Punchestown
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Imagine having just been appointed to the prestigious position of CEO of Punchestown Racecourse succeeding a man (Dick O Sullivan) who had literally pulled the place out of the gutter financially-wise, returning it to its past glories, only to find that in his first season in charge of the biggest festival of the year in Irish racing it is cancelled in its entirety due to Covid-19.
Fast forward 12 months and while the festival gets the go-ahead it does so but only in front of empty stands, empty hospitality areas, in fact empty everything but for those involved in the actual running of racing.
Donn McClean on the British and Irish jumps scene ahead of the 2021 Punchestown Festival
By Donn McClean
14:29 · SUN April 25, 2021
Donn McClean reflects on the current National Hunt scene in Ireland and Britain ahead of the five-day Punchestown Festival.
Henry de Bromhead’s stable stars paraded at Tramore last Sunday: Honeysuckle, Put The Kettle On, Minella Indo, Minella Times, Balko Des Flos. The Champion Hurdle winner, the Champion Chase winner, the Gold Cup winner, the Grand National winner, the Grand National runner-up.
It is not so long ago that, if Irish trainers as a collective had had that haul, it would have been quite incredible. For one trainer, it was unprecedented.