Top British chaser The Jukebox Man is set to try and upset the Irish applecart in the upcoming Ladbrokes Punchestown Gold Cup.
The €300,000 highlight is one of a dozen Grade One contests at the five-day Punchestown festival that brings the 2025-26 Irish National Hunt season to a glittering climax.
It will feature last month’s spectacular Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Gaelic Warrior who will lead a star-studded Willie Mullins team into a festival he traditionally dominates.
Able to call on his two other Cheltenham championship winners, Lossiemouth and Il Etait Temps, as well as a squad of other top-flight contenders, Mullins is an all but unbackable favourite to overhaul Gordon Elliott and be crowned champion trainer in Ireland for a 20th time.
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On the back of his outstanding Gold Cup success, pride of place will go to Gaelic Warrior although stable companion Fact To File is also among 14 horses left in Punchestown’s Day Two feature at Monday’s entry stage for top-flight contests there.
They have clashed three times already this season with Gaelic Warrior edging a memorable duel in the Durkan before both were behind The Jukebox Man in the King George VI Chase at Kempton over Christmas. Fact To File beat Gaelic Warrior at the Dublin Racing Festival but missed out on appearing at Cheltenham as connections felt ground conditions were unsuitable.
The Jukebox Man dominated much of the build up to the Cheltenham Gold Cup due to his owner, former Spurs and West Ham manager Harry Redknapp.
It emerged just before the race that the horse hadn’t enjoyed a trouble-free preparation due to a breathing issue, and he finished out of the money behind Gaelic Warrior. His trainer Ben Pauling, though, is keen on a last throw of the dice this season in Ireland after a minor wind procedure on the horse.
“He was a bit stiff and sore after the Gold Cup and there was a lot didn’t go our way in the race so we’ve a lot to find. But he’s been at that level before and hopefully he can find that again,” Pauling said on Monday.
“He’s had a little tinkle on his wind – he had a little soft palate issue we had to sort out. But if he shows the form I want him to show leading up to the race, we’ll go over and give it another crack. He’s a horse that I know has got the ability to be in these races. He’s proven it already and there’s no taking away from how impressive Gaelic Warrior was, but we’ve got to try serve it up to him.
“He didn’t have an overly hard race at Cheltenham because he probably wasn’t able to put it in. We all know the Gold Cup can leave a dent in horses and he probably hasn’t had that dent put in him. And after running in a Gold Cup, we don’t need to worry about fitness. So long as he’s sound and well and 100 per cent, we’ll be there,” added the English trainer.
Redknapp’s presence at Punchestown would add an extra element to a festival that last year attracted a record 136,651 patrons through the gates. That was a massive 15 per cent increase on 2024.
On the back of his Grand National success with I Am Maximus at Aintree on Saturday, Mullins is preparing the best of the rest of his massive team for a five-day bonanza worth €3.6 million in prizemoney. He saddled 15 winners at the festival last year. His best ever numerical haul was 19 winners in 2021.
Lossiemouth is likely to start a red-hot favourite for the Boodles Champion Hurdle. Il Etait Temps, the middle leg of his trainer’s Cheltenham Triple Crown will have a maximum of just six opponents in the William Hill Champion Chase.
They’re likely to include last year’s winner Marine Nationale who was forced to miss Cheltenham due to a setback as well as Mullins’ other star two-miler, Majborough. He started odds-on at Cheltenham in the Champion Chase only for jumping frailties to emerge again. He’d previously impressed at the Dublin Racing Festival.
Joseph O’Brien has said it is unlikely Home By The Lee will try to pull off the Stayers Hurdle hat-trick at Punchestown. The popular veteran scored at Aintree on Saturday, on the back of his surprise victory in the Stayers at Cheltenham.
