Top class racing returns to Punchestown in November Punchestown Racecourse is preparing for its first big weekend of the season when they get set to host Grade One action at the Co. Kildare for the first time since the Festival ended in April. Lovers of the sport have three graded races to look forward to with the €100,000 Grade 1 Morgiana Hurdle on Sunday 18th November the pick of the bunch. There are also two Grade 2 contests taking place that weekend, the Craddockstown Novice Chase over two miles on the Saturday and the Florida Pearl Novice Chase over two miles and six furlongs on the Sunday. Experienced sports betting punters, wagering on anything from the World Cup to the Olympics, adopt a number of betting strategies when attempting to find winners. Some stick strictly to the form, picking over the past results to find the winners. Others prefer to concentrate on the bookies’ odds and price up a game, fight or race themselves, then pick out the value. For many in horse racing, the trends are king, looking for clues from past champions, jockeys on a hot streak or owners that have made a habit of banking the prize money. Let’s apply that to the three big races at Punchestown in the coming weeks. Craddockstown Novice Chase Run over two miles and open to entrants four years old and above, the Craddockstown Novice Chase offers a €44,500 prize pool with €26,255 of that going to the winner. Henry de Bromhead is a trainer worth keeping on the right side of as he has won this race four times in recent years with Sizing John scoring in 2015 and Identify Thief doing the business 12 months later. De Bromhead also won with Days Hotel in 2011 and the great Sizing Europe in 2009. Only once in the last ten years has there been enough runners in this contest to allow for full each-way betting and while the race is open to four year olds only one has made the line up during that period. Morgiana Hurdle This Grade 1 decided over two miles is also open to four-year-olds and above. The race attracts some of the biggest names in the sport and we’ve seen some spectacular races over the years. Faugheen was crowned champion in 2017, scoring under the ride of Paul Townend. That was Willie Mullins’ seventh Morgiana Hurdle victory in a row as the Champion trainer continues to dominate the race. Of those seven, he’s had Hurricane Fly land a hat-trick between 2012 and 2014 and Nichols Canyon double-up in 2015 and 2016. Florida Pearl Novice Chase Is named in honour of another Willie Mullins trained star performer and is set to test the stamina of young chasers over a distance of 2m 6f. The race is confined to five year olds and above and you’ll be interested to know six-year-olds have won six of the last eight, including last year’s victor Jury Duty. Mullins great rival Gordon Elliott has saddled the first two home in each of the last two years and his runners must be taken seriously.
