PUNCHESTOWN PREVIEWNEPTUNE COLLONGES will carve out his own little bit of Punchestown history if he manages to land the centrepiece of the entire festival week, the €275,000 Guinness Gold Cup, for the all-conquering Ruby Walsh-Paul Nicholls team this afternoon.
The seven-year-old grey won this race last season and, in the nine years since the three-mile event became a true Grade One contest, no horse has been victorious more than once.
Two other winners, Kicking King (2005) and Beef Or Salmon (2004), are in the same boat, but, unlike Neptune Collonges, they can hardly be said to be coming here in the form of their lives.
Beef Or Salmon, in fact, is having the 51st and final race of an illustrious career that has seen him win 10 top-level races. Although victory today is unlikely, if by some chance the veteran comes home in front there will hardly have been a more emotional scene in the 158-year racing history of the famous track.
His trainer, Michael Hourigan, also has the young pretender Mossbank, as well as Hi Cloy in the race, and he admitted his ambitions for Beef Or Salmon by saying yesterday: "I'd hope he could sign off with a good show."
Tom Taaffe is expecting more from Kicking King, who missed out on a return to the Cheltenham Gold Cup but is now pleasing his trainer in a big way.
"He's showing all his old sparkle again. We couldn't get that sparkle in time for Cheltenham, and I probably had to cram too much into him after his comeback and it didn't happen. But he is giving us all the right vibes now," Taaffe said.
Nevertheless, Kicking King still has to prove he is back to anything near his 2005 pomp.
Of the other main Irish hopes, Snowy Morning is coming back after a gruelling third in the Grand National and Mister Top Notch might just fall short of genuine top class.
Certainly it is hard to see any of them managing the third place that Neptune Collonges got in the Gold Cup behind his stable companions, Denman and Kauto Star.
Yesterday, Nicholls admitted: "He is certainly a better horse now than coming in to the race last year and is coming off the race of his life last time. I know Master Minded and Kauto Star were beaten at Liverpool, but this horse has had an extra three weeks to get over Cheltenham. He has come out of it really well."
Appropriately for the sole Grade One race of the week on the level, legendary flat trainer Dermot Weld could have the solution to the €110,000 Paddy Power Champion Bumper in the shape of the unbeaten Endless Intrigue.
Weld figured Cheltenham's demands might be too much for a four-year-old, but Royal Rosa's 2003 win here proved the younger brigade can win and Endless Intrigue missed out on a hard race last month.
Cousin Vinny led home the party at Cheltenham and leads a three-strong Willie Mullins team today. Surprisingly, though, Mullins hasn't won this race since Maringo delivered 13 years ago, and Cousin Vinny has to fight the record of no Cheltenham winner following up here.
Nicky Henderson has been one of the most frequent of the cross-sea visitors to Punchestown and has saddled nine winners in the last 15 years. His Galient looks an interesting contender for the three-mile novice hurdle.
Runner-up in the Queen's Vase on the flat for Michael Jarvis, and good enough to run in the 2006 St Leger, Galient has won both his hurdle starts and was impressive at Ludlow last month.
It looks like jumping may have rekindled his enthusiasm, and he will at least strip fresh compared to the Cheltenham fourth Siegemaster and Shakervilz.
Silverhand was fancied to run a big race in the Triumph at Cheltenham but managed only 10th place. Noel Meade's horses were out of form that week, though, and the course- and distance-winner looks worth persevering with in the juvenile hurdle, while the course and distance of the handicap chase should be ideal for his stablemate, Ballyagran.
