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Review PUNCHESTOWN 22nd Apr

Tue 22nd Apr 2008, 17:30

Twist Magic and Natal gave Paul Nicholls a famous one-two in the feature race of the Punchestown Festival's opening day, the two-mile Kerrygold Champion Chase.

The 6-4 favourite looked to have the race in the bag as he went on at the second-last under Ruby Walsh, despite having made several mistakes at his fences.

But Tony McCoy was not giving up on Natal, who made a brave attempt to close the gap in the straight and forced Twist Magic to pull out all the stops to win by a length and three-quarters.

Jered oozed class in taking the vcbet.com Champion Novice Hurdle in the JP McManus colours.

Salford City had a handy lead turning for home as Fiveforthree struggled to stay with the pace, but Jered quickly reduced the gap under McCoy.

Noel Meade's 7-4 favourite easily drew alongside the leader before the last and scooted clear when required, finishing eight lengths to the good. Fiveforthree rallied to be third.

Air Force One ran his rivals into the ground as he put up a superb front-running display under Noel Fehily to land the Ellier Developments Champion Novice Chase.

Charlie Mann's charge shook off his only serious rival Pomme Tiepy, who was receiving a stone, in the straight and sealed an easy victory with a faultless round of jumping. The 2-1 chance beat Pomme Tiepy by 13 lengths.

Bambootcha (16-1) put in a flying finish in the Gain Horse Feeds Handicap Hurdle under Sean Flanagan to mug Ruby Walsh and Clear Riposte in the dying strides.

Colm Murphy's mare, a reserve runner, had it all to do after jumping the last but came with a rare rattle to score by a neck.

Last year's second Wedger Pardy (9-2 favourite) looked to have the DNG Nationwide Chase over the banks course won when Money Point capsized at the last, and Ted Walsh's seven-year-old ran on strongly to score by 14 lengths.

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