Punchestown Day 1 Tips: @RoadCheltenham's Tuesday Festival Selections

The 2025 Punchestown Festival is here and punters will be tuned in for five thrilling days of action at the home of Irish jumps racing. Here, I take a look through the card on Day 1 and give my three leading fancies on Tuesday...

15:05 Punchestown

Cave Court is no back number and he’s a huge price in the Albert Bartlett Triple Crown Series Final Handicap Hurdle. Amateur Oran McGill is enjoying a prolific year in the saddle, operating at a 19% strike rate and his 5lbs claim will come in handy.

He is now up to an Irish rating of 128 over hurdles but he effectively runs here off a mark of 123 and he will relish the conditions, with ‘yielding’ in the going description for four of his six victories under rules. 

Four of his six wins have come at right-handed tracks and this is his optimum trip. There is plenty in his favour and I think – with a bit of luck – he can go close for trainer Noel Kelly.

16:50 Punchestown

It would be fair to label Slade Steel as a forgotten horse as his novice chasing campaign hasn’t really gone to plan. However, the 2024 Supreme Novices Hurdle winner is of significant interest ahead of the Grade 1 3m Champion Novice Chase.

He has finished second on both chase starts – behind Better Days Ahead on debut and then behind Lecky Watson on his second attempt over fences. That form looks strong now, with the Willie Mullins horse winning the Brown Advisory Novices Chase while Gordon Elliott’s runner was third in that race and is a Grade 2 winner himself.

The ground may be a bit quick but connections are happy to throw him in the deep end here and I’m hoping that fortune favours the brave. It’s been a wide open division over the past few months and he doesn’t have much to find on the market leaders.

17:25 Punchestown

Santo Sospir showed plenty of inexperience when winning on debut at Punchestown in February and I’m expecting him to come on leaps and bounds for that run. It looked like he was going to be swallowed up but he stuck to the task and won be a neck.

The two in behind haven’t been seen since while Lord Tobin (fourth) was beaten out of sight the last day. Having said that, I think we saw enough from Santo Sospir to suggest that he is a huge prospect and better ground may help his chances.

The Goffs Defender Bumper is always fiercely competitive but he has course form in the book and I’m hoping to see Santo Sospir follow in the footsteps of Sermandzarak to give Gordon Elliott, Robour and Harry Swan another success in the race.