PUNCHESTOWN PREVIEW: PUNCHESTOWN'S 70,000sq m of polythene cover passed its first overnight test with flying colours, and hopes are now high that Big Zeb's Cheltenham festival warm-up can go ahead as planned tomorrow.
Ireland’s reigning horse of the year is due to take on just four opponents in the Boylesports Tied Cottage Chase, including old rival Golden Silver and Sizing Europe, who is putting his own festival credentials on the line.
However, the first attempt by an Irish racecourse to apply covers over its whole racing surface in a battle against frost produced an encouraging result yesterday morning, despite overnight temperatures of minus four degrees.
“We are only up to plus one degree now and, on the bits of the course that are uncovered, I would say we could possibly race,” Punchestown manager Richie Galway said yesterday. “But we could definitely race on the covered bits. So that’s been a success.
“The fear in these situations is that once frost gets into the ground over two or three nights, and daytime temperatures don’t rise much, then you can be in trouble. But while we’re still learning about these covers, we have to be very hopeful they will allow us race on Sunday,” he added.
The 10m-wide, 120m-long strips currently cover both the hurdles and chase tracks, and as soon as temperatures allow tomorrow morning the three- to four-hour task of removing them will begin.
The latest the Punchestown team can leave that task is until 8am, but success for a project that is costing the racecourse over €20,000 will allow a double Grade Two card go ahead.
Big Zeb won the Tied Cottage last year en route to Queen Mother Champion Chase glory, and while Golden Silver, who he has already beaten twice this season, is back for more, Sizing Europe represents an unexpected challenge to Colm Murphy’s star.
Sizing Europe’s festival options currently extend from the two-mile crown through the Ryanair and on to the Gold Cup, and his connections are determined to play their Cheltenham cards close to their chests.
“He is entered in all three races at Cheltenham and we will see what happens on Sunday before making our minds up,” trainer Henry De Bromhead said yesterday.
Plans for Big Zeb, in contrast, are much more straight-forward, and an impressive performance by the current two-mile champion could see him replace Master Minded as favourite for the Champion Chase in March.
Barry Geraghty’s mount has won the Fortria and the Dial-A-Bet this season and his jumping on both occasions was noticeably fluent.
Golden Silver was closing on him in the closing stages at Leopardstown last month, but Big Zeb at his best has proven himself the superior runner and bulletins from the Murphy yard have been uniformly positive.
The Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle is tomorrow’s other Grade Two contest, which sees the De Bromhead team run the dual-Cork winner Byerley Bear.
Dermot Weld’s Hidden Universe doesn’t run here, but Joe Smooth can boost his form having finished runner-up to the bumper champion at Leopardstown before winning comfortably here.
Rocco’s Hall was well fancied for yesterday’s Thyestes but failed to get promoted from the reserves, so instead he can gain compensation in the Grand National Trial, in which a combination of three-and-a-half miles and testing ground should be no trouble.
Garde Champetre is one of three Enda Bolger runners in the cross country chase and the veteran gets weight from some of his rivals.
One Cool Cookie at his best has more than a touch of class, but Garde Champetre is very much the proven article in these circumstances.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)