Dancing City out to cement Cheltenham credentials at Punchestown

A bumper offering of eight races is on the cards for punters heading to Punchestown Racecourse on Tuesday for the track’s penultimate meeting of 2024.

Racing gets underway at 11.50am as 11 runners tackle a novice chase before the action comes to a close at 3.20 with a big-field handicap hurdle.

Read below to discover the latest tips and a full meeting preview of Punchestown's meeting on Tuesday courtesy of BoyleSports, who will be offering the latest Leopardstown betting later this month.

The opening contest on the card is a two-mile novice chase for horses aged four and older, with 11 of them set to head to post for the card opener. The Tom Mullins-trained Fascile Mode is a previous course and distance winner, including in October, but was a faller at this track 16 days ago so providing he isn’t any worse for wear for that spill, he will be well in contention again. Jasko Des Dames for Henry De Bromhead rates the next best, landing a career best around this track when scoring in a ten-runner novice chase 25 last month and bids for a hat-trick this time around.

Another field of 11 will tackle race two on Punchestown’s Tuesday card (12.20) in a two mile and seven furlong beginners chase. Dancing City was one of the top staying novice hurdlers last season for powerhouse trainer Willie Mullins that included Grade 1 outings at both Aintree and Punchestown to end the campaign so rates the one to beat on chase debut. The Gordon Elliott-trained Shannon Royle can give the Mullins most to think about, second on debut over fences 18 days ago at Tipperary.

Forty Coats looks the one to beat for trainer De Bromhead in race three of the day (12.50), second off 11 in a novice hurdle at Navan 24 days ago and showed there could be more to come, while race four on the card (1.20) can go the way of Hey Sunshine for the Mullins yard, bidding for a hat-trick after back to back wins at Kilbeggan and Downpatrick earlier this year.

High-powered trainer Gavin Cromwell could land the two-mile maiden hurdle (1.50) at a big price with French Hill, on what will be his second run for his new yard having left Denis Hogan and the first was a second of 13 in a novice hurdle and is open to further improvement here. Of his rivals, Port Joulain from the Mullins team is the main threat, off for seven months and has been a winner of two bumpers previously.

Colonel Mustard has run in races plenty stronger than this in race six of the day (2.20) for trainer Lorna Fowler and despite being on a losing run that stretches back to 2021, is a big player in a weaker contest than he usually runs in. Mullins is taken to fill the second spot with Got Glory, a useful winner on the Flat and was second to Casa No Mento in a Listed hurdle when last seen seven months ago.

Division one of the two-mile seven handicap hurdle marks the penultimate race on the Punchestown card (2.50) and this can go the way of Not My Problem, a good second last time out in this sphere at this track when last seen, while the finale on the card in division two of the same discipline (3.20) sees Ballagh Star get the nod at a big price, a chase winner at Sligo that shaped better than the bare result at Fairyhouse last time out, so is of interest back hurdling off the same mark as when he won that race at Sligo.

Punchestown selections - Tuesday 

11.50 - Fascile Mode 

12.20 - Dancing City

12.50 - Forty Coats 

1.20 - Hey Sunshine 

1.50 - French Hill 

2.20 - Colonel Mustard 

2.50 - Not My Problem 

3.20 - Ballagh Star