Key races of the season at Punchestown Punchestown is Ireland's home of jumps racing, a vast expanse of National Hunt land with all manner of obstacles for horses to display their brilliance in jumping. The Co Kildare venue plays host to the five-day Punchestown Festival in late spring, the final curtain call for the best jumpers in Britain and Ireland before their summer recess. That meeting is laced with Grade 1 races but Punchestown has a sprinkling of major contests throughout the season. We're looking at some of the key races of the season at Punchestown. John Durkan meeting heralds new beginnings The first major meeting of the season at Punchestown comes up in late November or early December, somethings spread across a weekend encompassing both months. It is highlighted by the John Durkan Memorial Punchestown Chase, a Grade 1 event run over two-and-a-half-miles. While that intermediate trip doesn't scream of staying chasers, it's often a platform for reappearing stars of that division or aspiring stayers of the season to come. Galopin Des Champs was the most recent Cheltenham Gold Cup winner to bag this race, while Fact To File won it this season before sampling Ryanair glory in the Cotswolds. On the same afternoon, the Grade 1 Morgiana Hurdle features some of Ireland's best established two-milers over timber, with the likes of Moscow Flyer, Harchibald, Hurricane Fly and State Man on the list of winners. The mid-winter meeting also includes the Grade 2 Florida Pearl Novice Chase, run over two-miles-and-six-furlongs. New Year's Eve tradition lives on Punchestown then stages a Festive Treat Day ahead of Christmas while they occupy pride of place as the final stopping point in the calendar year with their traditional New Year's Eve racecard. The meeting doesn't boast any major races, but it has often been known to showcase some top class stars of the future starting out in maiden/novice hurdle company. The first Saturday in January is another chance to see some bright prospects in the Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle, won in recent times by the likes of Vautour, Douvan, Any Second Now, Impaire Et Passe, Mystical Power and Salvator Mundi. Later, in February, the Grade Tied Cottage Chase attempts to attract some of the best two-milers and has been won by future Queen Mother Champion Chasers like Moscow Flyer and Sizing Europe. Festival littered with quality Of course, it is at the festival in the spring where Punchestown truly lives up to its peerless moniker, with a dozen Grade 1 races spread over a five-day feast of jumps racing as the curtain comes down on the season and the champion trainer and jockey are honoured. Punchestown hosts their own versions of the Championship events, the Champion Chase, Gold Cup, Stayers' Hurdle and Champion Hurdle taking place in that order across the first four days of meeting, while the Mares Champion Hurdle and the 4YO Champion Hurdle occupy pride of place on a closing afternoon that often overlaps with the 2000 Guineas card at Newmarket as peerless Punchestown passes the torch to the Flat for the summer months.
