Punchestown Day 4 Tips: Friday Best Bets From @RoadCheltenham

It’s Friday and the fourth day of the 2025 Punchestown Festival is upon us. It’s been a week of ups and downs, with a few nice winners and a couple of shocks but spirits are still high and I’m back with my three best bets on Day 4...

17:25 Punchestown

Blizzard Of Oz is 0-3 over fences but he has some excellent form in the book, finishing behind the likes of Lecky Watson and Quai De Bourbon earlier in the season. The quick ground is likely more of a positive for him than many of his market rivals.

JJ Slevin takes the ride and the Double Green had a winner on Wednesday with Jasmin De Vaux. I’m expecting Blizzard Of Oz to be right in the mix and he could turn out to be much better than his current Irish mark of 141.

Lecky Watson is now rated 159 while Quai De Bourbon is 151 and even Lombron is now 145 following his run in the Bet365 Gold Cup at Sandown Park. It’s a competitive race and the fact that Paul Townend has opted to sit this one out may speak volumes but I still think Blizzard Of Oz has a great chance.

19:10 Punchestown

Connections won this race with El Fabiolo in 2022 while Anotherway finished third in last year’s race and they will be hoping to see Runcok make his way into the winner’s enclosure on Friday evening. I’m writing this before a market has been formed but I’m expecting him to be a warm order in the betting.

He remains unexposed over hurdles and he finished a respectable fifth behind Irancy and Karniquet at Fairyhouse last month, both of whom franked the form finishing first and second in the Grade 1 Champion Novice Hurdle on Tuesday.

There are several similar types in here, with Sine Qua Non earning a lofty reputation from his point-to-point success while Naturally Nimble receives 6lbs from his rivals due to the weight-for-age allowance. However, Runcok is the one for me.

19:40 Punchestown

A third selection and a third Willie Mullins runner for this blog, King Rasko Grey was a €250,000 purchase at the 2023 Goffs Arkle Sale and he ran an eye-catching race in last year’s Defender Bumper to finish fourth, just a few lengths behind Sermandzarak.

While the form looks pretty ordinary, the manner in which King Rasko Grey finished his race was very impressive. The extra three furlongs here should be right up his street and Jody Townend is riding with supreme confidence and she is a more than able deputy in the absence of the suspended Patrick Mullins.

He’s been off the track since last year’s Festival so one can assume things haven’t gone to plan this year but hopefully he can make up for lost time to give connections another winner following Galopin Des Champs’ success earlier in the week.