Key Points
- We head to Punchestown for a Champion Chase and Gold Cup Double
- This Champion Chase contender can overcome the Willie Mullins ambush!
- Fresh after bypassing Cheltenham, this horse will be tough to beat in the Gold Cup!
My betting tips usually run from Tuesday to Saturday, but Monday is a special day this week! I have looked ahead to the first two days of the Punchestown Festival, where I’ve selected horses who run in two key races to make up a Double. Their combined odds are too big to ignore, so let’s secure them now!
For those new to my content here, I’m RacingGav and I’m the resident horse racing expert at Betting.co.uk and I have been here since March 2025. Most of my posts are
free horse racing tips, big race trends and educational guides, but I'll soon be adding a selection of trainers and horses to follow each month as well.
In terms of my betting tips, you'll find a mix of daily and antepost selections. If the latter is something that interests you, be sure to check out my existing antepost picks. We have one for the
Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase
at the 2027 Cheltenham Festival, plus another for the
2027 Aintree Grand National. At the time of writing, both horses are available at huge prices of 50/1 and 66/1 respectively!
Betting advice - 2pt Win Double
- Tuesday 28 April 2026 18:05- Punchestown Champion Chase -
Marine Nationale
@ 2/1
- Wednesday 29 April 2026 18:05 - Punchestown Gold Cup -
Fact To File
@ 6/4
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These two horses should both be favourites!
It’s pretty rare for me to play a Double but I think these horses will be tough to beat. At the time of writing, both are second favourites in their respective races, but I see them at the top of the market personally. I feel there is value in their prices, which amplifies by playing them as a Double.
Marine Nationale can overcome the Willie Mullins ambush!Â
Five runners are expected to go to post in the Punchestown Champion Chase. Four of them: Il Etait Temps, Majborough, Energumene and Blood Destiny, are all trained by Willie Mullins. That leaves Marine Nationale tasked with defeating the strong Closutton presence here for owner and trainer Barry Connell.
Realistically, Enegumene and Blood Destiny are making up the numbers here, hoping for a clear round to pick up some of the prize money on offer. Even if that pair ends up detached from the field, just crossing the finish line will see them scoop €17,400 between them. That’s assuming Energumene runs, as he needs the going much softer than it’s likely to be. Majborough is another who prefers the ground softer, plus he’s a hard horse to trust. That’s before factoring in that this is a right-handed track, which won’t suit him at all.
This race looks likely to end up as a straight match between Il Etait Temps and Marine Nationale. Il Etait Temps is favourite at the time of writing, but mainly due to recency bias as a result of his Cheltenham Festival win. Meanwhile, Majborough was far from his best that day, making numerous mistakes at his fences, and Marine Nationale missed the meeting altogether.
So while Il Etait Temps bolted up, I do feel he is somewhat flattered by that, and I’m keen to take him on. After just two runs this season and having missed Cheltenham, Marine National comes to Punchestown fresh, and that could be a key factor. He won this race last year, and as we saw in his 2023 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle win, he goes well when fresh, plus he gets first time cheekpieces here to keep him 100% focused.
After bypassing Cheltenham, Fact To File will be tough to beat!
For the Punchestown Gold Cup, we have six runners going to post, so another small field. However, what it lacks in depth, it makes up for in quality, as we have two Cheltenham Gold Cup winners, and an Irish Gold Cup winner looking set to battle this out. The other three contenders are all Grade 1 winners, so they’re not exactly no-hopers either.
On official ratings, this is a straight match between the top two in the market, Gaelic Warrior and Fact To File, the winners of this season's Irish Gold Cup and Cheltenham Gold Cup. They're evenly matched on ability as their ratings of 176 and 175 suggest. Gaelic Warrior beat Fact To File in the John Durkan, and finished a long way ahead of him in the King George, but was then beaten by him in the Irish Gold Cup. The John Durkan was their first run of the season, and Fact To File simply didn't fire in the King George. I’d argue the Irish Gold Cup is the most relevant form, which saw Fact To File come out on top by five lengths.
Face To File was at the top of the betting for the Cheltenham Gold Cup. However, his connections decided to go for the Ryanair Chase instead, which he missed anyway due to the ground, leaving Gaelic Warrior to go on and win in emphatic fashion.
At the end of the day, Fact To File is fresh having missed Cheltenham, so with that and his Irish Gold Cup form, I see this race swinging his way. As is often the case, recency bias can affect the markets, but I think the wider picture needs to be considered here. The betting market will tell us a lot on the day, and I expect it to be speaking for Fact To File, by which time his value will be gone.
Can we turn 2pts into 15pts?
I think Marine Nationale and Fact To File can both exploit the freshness angle to win the Champion Chase and Gold Cup respectively. We often see more fresh horses than good ones win races at Punchestown, and both of my selections fit the bill. Although Il Etait Temps and Gaelic Warrior have obvious chances if they match their Cheltenham form, the question is more whether they can.
With the ability Marine Nationale and Fact To File have shown previously, the freshness angle, and the value I see in their prices, I’m sticking my neck out here and playing a strong 2pt Win Double. If they can do the business, we’ll see our 2pts turn into 15pts, which would be a lovely result, and put us in a great position for the Punchestown Festival overall.
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