Punchestown Sunday Preview - 15/01/22

The first and feature race of the afternoon at Punchestown is the Grade Two Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle and with Willie Mullins winning this race with the likes of Dysart Dynamo, Getabird, Min, Douvan and Vautour, this season he has the favourite again with Impaire Et Passe and he should not be beat.

He is a horse we are a huge fan of, having been bought by Simon Munir and Isaac Souede after winning a bumper in France over 1m4 1/2f, he was given to Willie Mullins and made his debut on the 20th December at Naas.

He looks a serious talent being an 18 lengths winner of a 24 runner Maiden Hurdle over 2m3f and although he would be dropping in trip for this race he has bundles of class.

He could be a big player in either the Supreme or Ballymore if improving again to win this race and if you look at how Mullins has done with Munir & Souede novice/juvenile hurdle horses this season like Dark Raven, The Hunters Yarn, Tax For max and Zarak The Brave, I think Impaire Et Passe is the best of the lot of them.

In the second division of the Maiden Hurdle over two miles, five year old Bialystok for Willie Mullins and Rich Ricci looks to be a horse with a lot of potential.

Bought for €160,000 having been a smart horse on the flat for leading French trainer Jean Claude Rouget, he is now switching codes to the national hunt sphere.

When Mullins and Ricci have done this with a horse they have turned out to be quite special and with the field looking rather weak he should win this if wanting to have a future in this game.

Another big race on the afternoon at Punchestown is the Grade Three Madigan Group Novice Chase over 2m 3 1/2f and Ha D'or for Willie Mullins can show just how good he is.

A smart novice hurdler finishing second and third to stablemate Flame Bearer in Grade Two and Three company last season, he then on his final start of last term went on to finish only four lengths back in second behind El Fabiolo in a Grade One at the Punchestown festival.

Sent chasing this term upped in trip to 2m5f he put on a dominant jumping display to see off The Goffer for Gordon Elliott by 11 lengths.

He seemed to have improved for the time off, switch to fences and being upped in trip and we think he can can improve again and go close in this one.

The final selection of the afternoon at Punchestown is the Barry Connell owned and trained Balkito with the eight year old looking to improve on his seasonal debut.

Twice a winner at the back end of last season over fences, he got off the mark when scoring at Thurles in a 17 runner Handicap Chase over 3m1f off 106, bolting up by seven lengths.

Upped 10lb for that success he then went to Limerick in March and again won easily over a similar trip on heavy ground.

Put away for the rest of the season, he returned at Punchestown in October over hurdles and had a spin round in what looked like a pipe opener.

Now back over fences he should strip much fitter for that run and off 9lb higher than his last winning mark, showing how progressive he has been, he should handle the heavy ground better than most and go close.