Day one of the Punchestown Festival looms up on Tuesday as the Co Kildare venue gets ready to take the final curtain call for the National Hunt season.

They start in style, with a trio of Grade 1 events including a fascinating William Hill Champion Chase that may pit Cheltenham Festival winners Marine Nationale and Fact To File in opposition.

We're taking a look at some of the leading contenders for day one at Punchestown following the latest entry stage.

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Marine Nationale vs Fact To File the headline act

The Grade 1 William Hill Champion Chase over two miles could be one of the most attractive races of the entire meeting as it looks likely to throw up a superstar clash between Queen Mother Champion Chase winner Marine Nationale and Ryanair scorer Fact To File.

The King George winner Banbridge is also still in the mix along with Solness, one of the most upwardly mobile performers in graded company this season over fences.

A dust-up between Marine Nationale and Fact To File will grab all the headlines. The Willie Mullins-trained Fact To File has just one entry at Punchestown so the showdown with Marine Nationale is very much on the cards.

Barry Connell, trainer of the Queen Mother winner, is reporting his charge to be in good order.

"We're absolutely on track for it, we're 100% gunning for Tuesday," Connell said on Wednesday. "He's actually improved from Cheltenham, both physically and mentally. I couldn't be any happier with him. He couldn't be in a better place. All I can say is that we're ready for it and we can't wait."

Marine Nationale will bid to follow in the footsteps of Energumene, who completed the Cheltenham-Punchestown Champion Chase double in 2022 and 2023, and Connell says Fact To File is welcome to have a shot at his stable star.

"We're the champion chaser and if he wants to take us on, fair play to him," he added. "I'd imagine it will be one of the races of the week as there could be a lot of odds-on favourites in some of the other races."

Fact To File was installed as favourite at around 5/4 over Marine Nationale, Connell's runner trading at 2/1.

Kopek Des Bordes ready to shine again

The KPMG Champion Novice Hurdle will be the first of the Grade 1s at Punchestown and Kopek Des Bordes will be aiming to follow in the footsteps of Mullins-trained winners Hurricane Fly (2009), Blackstairmountain (2010), Faugheen (2014), Douvan (2015), Cilaos Emery (2017), Draconien (2018), Klassical Dream (2019), Echoes In Rain (2021), Facile Vega (2023) and Mystical Power (2024) in this contest.

The Closutton colossus is responsible for 10 of the remaining 16 entries, with Karniquet, Karbau, Ethical Diamond and Gaucher among his possible contenders.

Workahead for Henry De Bromhead, Gordon Elliott's Whinney Hill and the improving Lovely Hurling for Colm Murphy are amongst the possible opposition.

Ballyburn to bounce back?

The Dooley Insurance Group Champion Novice Chase completes the trio of top-level races on the opening day and Ballyburn may bid to atone for a poor run at Cheltenham last month in the Brown Advisory Novices' Chase.

He was never a serious threat in that race as stablemate Lecky Watson sprang a surprise in winning for Mullins, while Elliott saw Stellar Story finish second ahead of Better Days Ahead, who has since run sixth in the Irish Grand National.

Lecky Watson, Stellar Story and Ballyburn now appear most likely to re-engage from the Cotswolds, while last year's Supreme Novices' Hurdle winner Slade Steel would add some intrigue for Henry De Bromhead.