Punchestown festival day one naps: best betting tips from our experts

Day one of the Punchestown festival is upon us – but who do our top tipsters fancy most?

Firefox

By Adrian Wall

Five of the nine runners in the Grade 1 KPMG Champion Novice Hurdle clashed in last month's Supreme Novices' Hurdle, and I'm taking a chance that Firefox can reverse the Cheltenham Festival form with Slade Steel and Mystical Power.

I thought the Gordon Elliott-trained six-year-old was unfortunate on the day. He made smooth headway after they turned for home but was badly hampered before the final hurdle. Nonetheless, he stayed on well up the hill and pipped Asian Master for third.

Firefox was closing Mystical Power all the way to the line when beaten by half a length at Aintree in the Top Novices' Hurdle when last seen. He looks overpriced and I'm happy to take Slade Steel on with the ground forecast to be less testing than he'd want over this 2m½f trip.

Firefox15:40 Punchestown

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Jky: Jack Kennedy Tnr: Gordon Elliott

Banbridge

5.25 Punchestown

By Kevin Morley

Captain Guinness has to be respected on his Champion Chase success at Cheltenham, but fortune was on his side that day and trends suggest he may prove vulnerable to something with fewer miles on the clock.

The two to appeal most are Dinoblue and Banbridge. Dinoblue would be favoured if there was significant rain, but assuming the ground rides faster than it did at Cheltenham, Banbridge is taken to bounce back from his Ryanair disappointment.

Banbridge17:25 Punchestown

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Jky: J J Slevin Tnr: Joseph Patrick O'Brien

Sharjah

6.00 Punchestown

By Tom Segal

Paul Townend has opted for Embassy Gardens, who looked potentially top-class on his first two chase starts but blotted his copybook with a rather laboured display in the National Hunt Chase at Cheltenham. That's twice he's run badly there and maybe the track doesn't suit him, but even on his best form I don't think he has anything like the natural ability of Sharjah, who looks way too big a price.

Sharjah has won six Grade 1s, finished second in two Champion Hurdles, won a Galway Hurdle and at Ayr recently won a novice handicap chase off top weight when upped to 3m for the first time. It appeared Sharjah relished the slower pace he was going at over the trip, and could not have won any easier.

He might be 11 now, but Mullins brought Faugheen back to win a Grade 1 novice chase as a 12-year-old and if Sharjah is over his facile Ayr win, when he jumped absolutely brilliantly, there is no way he should be one of the outsiders. Danny Mullins takes over on top, but that is no bad thing as he's won the two big handicaps at Ayr and Sandown recently for his uncle and regularly wins Grade 1s for the Closutton team.