Punchestown - Next Week

Captain chris my nap of the meeting

Yeah agreed CVByrne! Any thoughts on what price Boston Bob will open up at?

If he opens up anywhere in around that i'll be all over it. With the ground probably good to soft I think he'll take a hell of a lot of beating. Whats yours thoughts CVByrne on Boston Bob's chances?

I think Boston Bob is a monster, he ran poorly at Cheltenham where he was off the bridle from half way and still looked like he'd win before blundering the last hurdle. Lovecen was well beaten back in 4th and he came out and beat Fingal Bay nto at Aintree.

Bob is a beast, he'll win easily on the soft ground. I'll be putting 5fold and 4folds on Sir Des, Sizing, Bob, Quevega and Fly. Two need to be turned over to lose money. Punchestown normally has few big upsets.

As for Tuesday. I think Realt Dubh is over priced at 16/1, he'll be fitter for his run at Cheltenham and 2m on good ground is much too short for him. But 2m on soft would be fine and with Zeb, Wishfull and Noble Prince all likely in trouble from Sizing going off like the clappers from the front Realt Dubh can make the frame. Will look to add him in w/o market too.

Sizing was unlucky in Champ Chase, bypassing the last fence turned the finish into a sprint and the younger horse won. But the two of them were well clear of Zeb. Anyway here's my rundown of the race.

Big Zeb - On the downgrade, was exposed twice by Sizing Europe on last 2 starts and soft ground very against him.

Captain Cee Bee - Been off track for a long time, is a good ground horse and fto on soft in this company at 11yo is probably too much for him.

China Rock - Needs good ground, needs very quick ground and also the trip is against him, big drop in distance.

Forpadydeplasterer - Another who loves good ground, clearly not as good as he used to be and 2m is too short for him, beaten twice by Zeb this season and no reason to reverse that form especially having run at Aintree.

Gauvain - Not a 2 miler, was miles behind in Champ Chase

Noble Prince - Recovering from injury and showed that 2m on soft ground he is very vulnerable.

Realt Dubh     - Goes for Gold Cup

Sizing Europe - Proved in tied Cottage the effectiveness of front running in soft ground, it will have most of this field in serious trouble early on. Should be a runaway winner of this.

Wishfull Thinking - Finally a good effort lto in Melling, but that was on a sound surface when he was relatively fresh and over his best distance of 2m4f. Soft ground, 2m and not fresh are all against him in this.

Zaarito - Will love the soft conditions and has run 2 creditable races when 2nd to Seabass and Tranquil Sea this year. Is certain to act at this trip and 33/1 seriously underrates his chances.

Do we know whether Zarkander is a confirmed runner next week?

I backed Trifolium at 9/4 earlier with paddy, anyone know if he's going to run? 6/4 now.

boston bob is so overrated. yes lovecen franked the form but the two races were entirely different and lovecen oustayed two possible non stayers. i said on the simonsig thread that fingal displayed more speed than it looked when beating simonsig and he did not see three miles out strongly after tanking into the lead.

he probably will win nicely against that lot, but he'll be one to oppose next year if he goes chasing.

Couldn't disagree with you more on Bob. He is not a hurdler at all and rating him based on what is a superb hurdling season is nonsense. Look at Last Installment, a less than average hurdler who was a revelation when he jumped a fence.

Boston bob is a chaser, every inch a chaser. What he did in the AB was prove he's a dour stayer and has guts. He was miles off turning in and got to within half a length at the top of the hill before emptying in the final few strides. He is as perfectly fitted to the RSA as any horse I've ever seen. If he jumps fences well he is the one to beat next year.

He's the most exciting horses to go chasing next season. People used Sprinter Sacres supreme 3rd to knock his Arkle chances. Sprinter is a different horse over fences, as Boston Bob will prove to be.

Oh and Trifolium runs, have 9/4 about him too. The soft ground just makes him more of a cert.

Will show Simonsig up next year too in the Arkle. Giggy have loads of quality chasers coming all the time.

Trifolium will be a crackin good chaser. I'm not sure Simonsig will take to fences as well as people assume he win.

I think it's a little too early to compare a very established top class chaser in Denman to a novice hurdler who lost his biggest test to date. We'll see what happens next year but I have the suspicion he's very much overrated.

Simonsig for me should stay over hurdles, he's a much better jumper than given credit for and I'd like to see him go for the International on route to Champion Hurdle next year but it's doubtful. an arkle horse he is not.

yes chasers are chasers and hurdlers are hurdlers but boston bob hasnt even raced over a fence yet so we don't know that he IS a chaser, and if so, how good he is. there will be loads of horses thought chasers that have failed at chelt over hurdles and subsequently over fences. why boston bob has such a reputation based on what he's done i don't know. i know mullins thinks the world of him but we'll let him (bb) do the talking next year.

yes of course mate but you're biased towards the irish horses and i probably am the others. but still, i think comparisons with denman are way off at this stage.

p2p wins mean absolutely FA. such weak oppo, we haven't seen the race so we have absolutely no idea how he can jump. he's a 150 hurdler so you'd expect him to win a p2p blundering every fence.

I'm not biased towards Irish horses, I just know them well so know which ones are good and which ones aren't. Most english don't know our racing which is a big advantage for us. You only have to look at last years festival where we were swimming in winnings. While this year we knew the handicapper had hit us hard and we were lacking many good novices. that's our advantage.

Back to Bob, P2P win means he has jumped fences before and jumped them well enough to win a race. It's encouraging for a future over fences to know he took well to them in his P2P and jumped very well. No blundering.

Will make a smashing nov chaser.

I really like the look of Overturn and Rubi Light for value in the market.

Overturn is up against a great horse but I dont see the attraction of backing Hurricane at that price at that racecourse

Maybe its because I got stung with himself and Sizing at Chelt and now looking further down the field for challengers.

Backed Rubi light at lep last xmas losing to a great performance from synchronised, think he is a great shout this week at 5/1-6/1

Didn't  Willie and Ruby think BB would improve for good ground,said he won despite hating the ground at Leop.Was struggling pretty much from the off in the AB being niggled along,with Mullins string out of form too.Brindisi don't look no slouch either.

Bob is an exciting chaser for next year

His ride in Champion Hurdle wasn't the best, but he assumed he was on the same horse he was 12 months prior. He wasn't Mullins string were not firing and Fly needs more than one prep run to be at his best. Lesson learned. But every horse he'll face on Friday he has beaten this season, while he should be in better form than at Chelts. He also acts very well on soft ground so you'd expect him to bounce back and be winning here.

I'm very keen on Zaidpour ew though, he'll love this ground, it could be heavy by Friday. Thousand Stars has had 2 very hard races recently, while Unaccompanied didn't go in the heavy ground in January so she may struggle too. While Go Native couldn't have a harder task in this ground for his first run back in 2 years.

I'm a bit worried about Quevega, 3m in soft/heavy ground is an unknown. Still given those concerns she should be odds on. So Young is my ew pick in that race, another horse who loves deep ground and only acts in it.

Was tempted to lay overturn at the 7's on here but not bothered really.

Soft ground at punch today and heavy rain forecast for tomorrow.

Seems Boston Bob has sparked quite a bit of interest on here! Sir Des Champs is clearly a very good horse and i will be backing him in a 4-fold - don't see the ground being a problem as he has won on heavy before and let's be honest any horse that can win a string of races in this country (Ireland) need to be able to act on soft/heavy ground haa

Quevega isn't a worry for me -  the ground may not be what we are used to seeing her hack up on but then again it all comes down to what exactly does she have to beat in this race that she hasn't already previously beat? I get Voler La Vedette had a very good outing last time but it's not enough to convinve me she is up to beating a horse of Quevega's calibre I mean in the past 4 years she hasn't put a hoof wrong!

Last night on Paddy Power Sur Des 2/5, Sizing Europe 8/13 where you get those prices CVByrne?

But yeah they are having a laugh