Punchestown best bets: Donn McClean Saturday tips

Punchestown betting tips: Saturday April 29

1pt win Echoes In Rain in 3.50 Punchestown at 9/4 (William Hill) - 2/1 general

1pt e.w. Tax For Max in 5.30 Punchestown at 10/1 (bet365 1/5 1,2,3,4,5) - 8/1 general

Sky Bet odds | Paddy Power | Betfair Sportsbook

Fourteen winners so far at the 2023 Punchestown Festival, and one day to go. If Willie Mullins can win five of the seven races today, then he will equal his best-ever Punchestown Festival haul of 19.

It’s possible. He has 17 runners today, 18 if you count Franco De Port in France. (You don’t.)

He doesn’t have a runner in the opening Donohue Solutions Cross Country Chase, so it’s unlikely that he will win that one. That leaves just six, if you don’t count the charity race. (You don’t.)

But Lossiemouth is odds-on for the Ballymore Champion Four-Year-Old Hurdle, and the champion trainer (again) has Gala Marceau and Zarak The Brave and Cinsa in there as well, so he is long odds-on to win that one.

Aione is favourite for the Colm Quinn BMW Handicap Chase, Ramillies is favourite for the Palmerstown House Pat Taaffe Handicap Chase, Sorrentino is favourite for the Lawlors Hotel Naas bumper.

And he has ECHOES IN RAIN and Brandy Harbour and Shewearsitwell in the Coolmore Mares’ Champion Hurdle. The Fitzwilliam Sports Handicap Hurdle looks open but he has six in it. It is a big ask, he will probably come up short, but stranger things have happened.

There is still value there too among the Willie Mullins horses from a betting perspective, because it is mildly surprising that Love Envoi has been put in as favourite in front of Echoes In Rain for the Mares’ Champion Hurdle.

Love Envoi is obviously a high-class mare, she made Honeysuckle fight for her final fantastic victory in the Mares’ Hurdle at Cheltenham last month, and the pair of them pulled well clear of their rivals. And that was only her second defeat in nine runs over hurdles.

But she may be vulnerable on today’s ground, and Echoes In Rain will be a tough opponent. Willie Mullins’ mare was well behind Love Envoi at Cheltenham, but she had been well beaten too on her only other run at Cheltenham in last year’s Mares’ Hurdle, and the ground was probably softer than ideal for her there.

She is a strong-travelling mare who possesses a potent turn of foot, and she should appreciate the better underfoot conditions today.

She goes well at Punchestown too, at this meeting. She won the Champion Novice Hurdle at the 2021 Festival, and she ran out of her skin to chase Honeysuckle home in the Champion Hurdle last year. The step up to two miles and three furlongs is probably not ideal, her best form is over two, but she is settling better through her races these days, you can see Paul Townend riding a stalking race, and that, combined with today’s ground, should help her at the trip.

The distance is a factor too for TAX FOR MAX in the Fitzwilliam Sports Handicap Hurdle, but he is another horse who is settling better through his races than he used to, and it may be that he will appreciate a slight step up in distance now.

He ran a big race in the Killashee Hotel Handicap Hurdle on Tuesday. He was smuggled into the race that day by Daryl Jacob, he tracked his stable companion Bialystok through, they were the only two horses who were still on the bridle on the run to the final flight.

In the end, he couldn’t catch his stable companion, but Tax For Max still kept on admirably to finish second in front of Tekao, with the first three pulling nicely away from their rivals.

A half-brother to Tiger Tap Tap, who got two and a half miles well, Willie Mullins’ horse goes really well at Punchestown. His record there reads 3112. He has run 11 times over hurdles away from Punchestown, and he has never won.

He has been raised by 4lb by the handicapper for Tuesday’s run, but he gets to race today off his old handicap rating of 133, so he is 4lb well-in. He should get the fast pace that he enjoys today, and we know that he goes well on the ground. He could run a big race.

Published at 1210 BST on 29/04/2023

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