Eyecatchers from the Punchestown Handicap Chases

The Punchestown Festival once more provided a host of thrilling contests and high-class performances as the National Hunt season in Ireland came to a close.

The focus will switch now to the Flat for much of the summer but, before it does, we're pinpointing some eyecatchers from the handicap chases at the Punchestown Festival that might be worth sticking in the notebook.

Riaan (Gordon Elliott)

No wins this spring but three super runs from the Gordon Elliott-trained Riaan will have the Cullentra handler and owner Philip Reynolds dreaming of better days to come.

A dual winner over hurdles, Riaan made a winning start over the larger obstacles at Wexford in the summer of 2023 but hasn't been able to add to his tally since.

A couple of poor efforts back in the winter suggested he was in decline but he has since finished fourth in a Dublin Racing Festival Grade 3 handicap, sixth in the Festival Plate at Cheltenham and then second in last week's Colm Quinn BMW Handicap Chase at Punchestown.

That silver medal came behind James Du Berlais, a talented but very often frustrating Willie Mullins inmate with a rating of 150.

He scored easily in the end but, off a mark of 132, Riaan is seemingly on a favourable perch and the eight-year-old might do well in a summer campaign or with aspirations at the likes of Killarney and Listowel heading towards the autumn.

Lazer Wolf (Gavin Cromwell)

What a spring it was for Gavin Cromwell as Inothewayurthinkin gave him Gold Cup glory at Cheltenham.

It was a superb season for the Co Meath-based handler at home and abroad, with Grade 1 winners on both sides of the Irish Sea.

Lazer Wolf is a handicap chaser with scope for better things in his future. The Getaway gelding has six runs over fences behind him, including a win at Clonmel (2m2½f, yielding) in December in a novice handicap chase off a mark of 116.

He has run with credit in all three starts since, most recently when finishing sixth of 23 at Punchestown in the Listed Frontline Security Handicap Chase over an extended two miles behind Jonjo & AJ O'Neill's Petit Tonnerre.

He did that off a mark of 128 and his Clonmel win is the only time he has raced beyond an extended two miles over fences so far. There looks to be scope for much more with him as the stamina of this three-mile winning pointer is drawn out.

Drumgill (John Ryan)

John Ryan's Drumgill was eventually beaten more than 30 lengths in finishing sixth in the QuinnBet Novice Handicap Chase over two-and-a-half-miles on Friday, but was it a better effort than the distance beaten suggests?

He was impeded at the first and his early fluency was probably knocked as a result. He made some late progress but his hopes were dashed by a mistake at the penultimate obstacle and, from there, he weakened out of contention.

Winner of a handicap chase at Limerick (2m1½f, good) in April, he was a prolific summer-time winner over hurdles in 2024, bagging three wins on the spin in July/August.

That Limerick success was promising and it's no major slight on the six-year-old that he has come up short in Listed novice handicaps since at Fairyhouse and Punchestown. He's one to keep close tabs on if he gets a summer chasing mission in the months to come.