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Punchestown Day 1 Tips - Tuesday, 28th April 2026
The Punchestown Festival gets underway on Tuesday, 28 April and the day's feature race could prove to be one of the races of the season.
Our editor Vincent Finegan has cast an eye over the cards and selected his top tip on day one of the festival.
Vincent, who lives on the Curragh in Co. Kildare, is the editor of irishracing.com and has almost 40 years experience in the horse racing industry. He writes a weekly blog on this website covering all aspects of the sport and presents our Irish Angle video show on Mondays. He is a dual winner of The Irish Field naps table.
Vincent Finegan's Punchestown Day 1 Tip
El Cairos 4.15 Punchestown, Champion Novice Hurdle (Grade 1)El Cairos was somewhat disappointing in the Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham, only finishing fifth to Old Park Star. I'd be inclined to give him a chance to redeem himself here as on more than one occasion this season he has looked top class.
Day 1 Highlight - Champion Chase
The highlight on day one of the Punchestown Festival is the two-mile William Hill Champion Chase and leading the market is Cheltenham Champion Chase winner, Il Etait Temps around the 6-4 mark.
Trainer Willie Mullins has won six of the last ten renewals of this race and also has the second favourite in the race Majborough, while stablemates Blood Destiny and two-time winner of this race Energumene may also join the contest.
Last year's winner Marine Nationale holds an entry and will return after a setback which ruled him out of Cheltenham.
Captain Guinness, runner up in 2025, appears among the entries as do Gidleigh Park and Solness.
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