'Lack Of Support Is A Surprise' - Dark Horses To Watch At Punchestown On Saturday It’s a great time of year for jump racing fans, as we get to see more and more stars making their seasonal debuts as the weeks progress. The Morgiana Hurdle takes place at Punchestown on Saturday and we’re all hoping for some Champion Hurdle pointers! We have an eight-race card to look forward to and some thoroughly competitive action. With that in mind, we’ve had a close look at the racing and picked out three dark horses to follow across the card, including a Gordon Elliott-trained horse in the day’s main event. 12.32 Punchestown - The Enabler This looks like a thoroughly competitive beginners’ chase and there are several serious candidates to consider. Willie Mullins runs a couple of contenders and the likes of Sky Lord and James’s Gate can’t be dismissed either. Elliott will be looking to take advantage of the fact that the Mullins yard doesn’t fully hit its stride until December and his runner The Enabler could surprise a few by running a big race here. A Listed winner in his bumper days, things didn’t quite go to plan over hurdles last term, although he did manage to win a maiden at Navan, after finishing second to Jasmin De Vaux. Perhaps fences can bring out the best in him and he shouldn’t be dismissed lightly. 1.05 Punchestown - Koktail Divin Henry de Bromhead’s Koktail Divin showed some smart form as a novice hurdler last term and he was far from disgraced when fourth in a Grade 1 at Aintree. The son of Masked Marvel ran a couple of respectable races in defeat before winning a Leopardstown maiden. He could be unexposed still and lost little in defeat when second to Romeo Coolio at Down Royal on seasonal debut. You would imagine he will step forward for the run and there’s nothing of Romeo Coolio’s calibre in this race. Rocky’s Diamond probably deserves to be the favourite here, but the lack of support for Koktail Divin is a surprise as the best is surely yet to come. 2.10 Punchestown - Ndaawi Willie Mullins has a stranglehold on the Morgiana Hurdle, having won eight of the last 10 renewals, and he provides two of the four runners this time around. Lossiemouth is a superstar and Irancy is a Grade 1 winner but both could be worth taking on. Elliott is the only other trainer to win this race in the last decade and the race-fit Ndaawi is a fascinating candidate. He was awarded the Galway Hurdle by the stewards after suffering significant interference up the run-in. Weirdly enough, he doesn’t have a massive amount to find according to the handicapper and, having run on the Flat not too long ago, the fitness advantage could make all the difference. Clearly the Mullins duo are better on their day but the improving Ndaawi won’t get a better chance of finishing in front of them than this, so it’s now or never for the five-year-old.
