Joseph O’Brien’s Banbridge is the star name on the biggest card of the Irish Jump Season so far at Gowran Park on Saturday.
With Clonmel unable to stage chases at its meeting on Thursday and Tipperary closed for the construction of a new all weather track, the cards have been reshuffled and the County Kilkenny track will stage an eight-race programme, headed by the PWC Chase named this year in honour of Danoli, the locally trained ‘People’s Champion’ of the mid 1990’s who won the track's Red Mills Trial Hurdle 30 years ago and who boasted one of the great equine CV’s of his generation.
On potentially a huge weekend for O’Brien, Banbridge heads a seven-strong entry for the feature. He won a flat race at the track a month ago and before that unseated JJ Slevin in the Grand National.
His main rival is set to be Gordon Elliott’s Western Fold, last year's winner, who wrapped up his 2025-2026 campaign with a Grade 1 Novice Chase success at Punchestown.
The Grade 3 Like-A-Butterfly Chase, squatting at Gowran from its normal Tipperary base, also has seven entries, including Eoin McCarthy’s Shadow Paddy who completed a hat-trick at the Galway Festival.
A strong octet have been entered for the other Grade 3 on the card, the BOYLE Sports Novice Hurdle. They include the unbeaten Willie Mullins-trained filly Witches Familiar, who made it two-from-two over obstacles when running away with the opening race of the Galway Festival.
In all more than 250,000 euros in prize money is on offer on the eight-race card, with the going described as Good to Yielding with more rain forecast before the two day meeting gets under way on Friday.
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