Punchestown Sunday Preview - 12/01/20

12:30 - No Bet

No Bet

13:05 - Carefully Selected

With us not having a bet in the first race of the day we move straight onto the Grade Three Killiney Novice Chase over two and a half miles.

This contest features a decent field of runners and we fancy the Willie Mullins trained Carefully Selected to land the spoils and from the way he ran on his seasonal debut he should improve a huge amount.

Last season over hurdles he was a modest horse winning some nice events and placing in some better contests but on his sole run over fences he showed plenty of ability to get of the mark at Fairyhouse which sets a decent standard for this contest.

13:35 - No Bet

No Bet

14:10 - Biddy The Boss

The Amateur National Handicap Chase sees a field of seven go to post and the Gavin Cromwell trained Biddy the Boss should not be to far away in this contest.

Gavin Cromwell has gone under the radar with his horses this season but this horse looks a big talent in these types of races from what he has produced this season.

In December he finished a clever second at Punchestown over course and distance and off the back of that got off the mark for the season at Fairyhouse which looks the pick of the form.

14:40 - Andy Dufresne

The feature contest of the day is the Moscow Flyer Novice Hurdle and in this small fielded Grade Two we are giving Andy Dufresne his final chance to prove his credentials.

The Gordon Elliott trained six year old romped home in a point to point in March 2018 and was then bought £330,000 by J P McManus and was given to Gordon Elliott.

He than ran in January at Down Royal in a bumper and again bolted up looking like a horse for the future with guaranteed potential.

This season he has taken to fences and on his debut hacked up at Navan in a Maiden Hurdle showing the ability he possess but on his final start he showed worrying tendencies.

Again over two and half miles he idled out in front and was out stayed by a lesser horse and in a big shock lost his unbeaten record.

However, dropping back down to, two miles should bring more improvement out of him and let him be able to use his speed.

15:15 - Minx Tiara

The Handicap Hurdle over to two and half miles sees a decent sized field and Minx Tiara for David O'Brien looks the pick of the bunch.

This five year old mare has been very consistent in her last few runs placing four times in five outings and that form warrants her to go close in this event.

In a very similar contest last time out at Limerick she was a bold third and that was in heavy ground if being able to find extra on better ground she won't be far away.

15:45 - Santa Rossa

The final runner of the afternoon for us is the big fielded Maiden Hurdle that features some very talented runners and we like the look of the Dermot McLoughlin trained Santa Rossa.

This six year old is very low in the weights getting the mares allowance and having an added bonus of a very handy three pounc claimer on board.

She holds leading credentials from her bumper form when third in the Grade Two Aintree bumper with second and first in that race since going on to perform well over hurdles.