Al Boum Photo can complete Paul Townend’s 12-month cycle of redemption in the Punchestown Gold Cup after last year’s inexplicable brain-fade on the same horse
A quick rebrand has transformed Wednesday’s Sagaro Stakes meeting at Ascot into “Royal Ascot Trials Day” as a reminder that high summer is not too far away, but there are no excuses for starting at Punchestown, where the jumps campaign is still alive and kicking and the Punchestown Gold Cup later is potentially one of the races of the season.
The betting cannot separate Al Boum Photo, Willie Mullins’s first Cheltenham Gold Cup winner at the umpteenth attempt, and his stable companion Kemboy, who unseated his rider at the first at Cheltenham but has since thrashed his field by nine lengths in the Betway Bowl at Aintree. Both are currently top-priced at 13-8 and while Bellshill is a 6-1 chance to repeat his win in this race last year, Kemboy and Al Boum Photo are the only seven-year-olds in the field and there is a distinct sense that this could be the first of many big-race head-to-heads between the pair.
Related: Punchestown Festival: Un De Sceaux lands Champion Chase for Willie Mullins
Southwell
12.00 Bahango 12.30 Lydiate Lady 1.00 Mujassam 1.30 Cliff Bay 2.00 Ollivander 2.35 Gunnabedun 3.10 Itchingham Lofte