PUNCHESTOWN FESTIVAL DAY TWO PREVIEW:CHAMPAGNE FEVER has already beaten the odds at Cheltenham and Willie Mullins' star will have to do the same to become just the second horse to complete the Cheltenham-Punchestown Champion Bumper double this evening.
Some outstanding Cheltenham winners have attempted to double up in the Chronicle Champion Flat Race but officially only the Mullins-trained Cousin Vinny has pulled it off in 2008.
A year later Dunguib did the same in emphatic fashion but he was subsequently disqualified from his Punchestown success due to a positive dope test.
The scale of the ask for a young horse in winning at both festivals, though, can be gauged by how a top-notcher like Montelado couldn’t manage to double up, nor could Missed That, Hairy Molly or Mucklemeg.
Champagne Fever was a dominant winner at Cheltenham when despite being a notable market-drifter in the betting, he made most of the running under Patrick Mullins to beat New Years Eve and Pique Sous.
“You never know how much of a toll Cheltenham takes but he seems fine, and he will like the ground,” said Mullins, who also saddles Mozoltov in the race, yesterday.
On decent ground Cheltenham was a fine performance by Champagne Fever and it contained more than a suspicion that softer going will suit him even more.
He gets that today and conditions should suit the Irish horse much more than his old rival New Years Eve, one of three British-trained starters in the race.
Mullins has three in the Grade One Daily Mirror War Of Attrition Novice Hurdle apparently headed by the Royal Bond winner Sous Les Cieux who sports first-time blinkers.
It’s still debatable what Sous Les Cieux’s best trip is but he tries three miles now on the back of finishing fifth to Simonsig in the Neptune at Cheltenham.
However, one horse who won’t have any problems in terms of trip or ground is Ipsos Du Berlais, who bounced back from a Cheltenham disappointment with a much better fourth in a Grade One at Aintree behind Lovcen.
“We decided to run him at Aintree thinking he would get his soft ground. In the end he didn’t but he still ran a decent race to finish fourth,” trainer Noel Meade said.
“He’ll be happier back on this softer ground, but the big question is how much that run at Aintree will have taken out of him.”
Coming out again 12 days later is a tough assignment but Ipsos Du Berlais is a winner on the track and is the sort of dour stayer to make it tough for these.
Michael O’Leary’s Gigginstown team could have a very good day as they introduce a fascinating newcomer to Irish racing in the two-mile conditions hurdle.
Un Beau Matin is a three-timer winner in his native France, with the last of them coming just last month in a Listed hurdle at Auteuil on very soft ground. That looks a profile to give him the beating of the Mullins hope Loch Ard.
Flash Of Genius, a point-to-point winner two years ago, is another interesting Gigginstown contender in the final bumper, where ground conditions may hinder the Dermot Weld hope Dancers Dilemma.
Raptor has been a disappointing performer this season and cut no ice at all when pulled up in the Irish National on Easter Monday.
However, he is one to relish soft ground and he could be worth another chance off a light-weight in the Guinneas Handicap Chase, a race his trainer Willie Mullins has won for the last two years.
