Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup

Of all National Hunt Grade 1 races scheduled to be run over the course of the 2008 Punchestown Festival, the Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup offers the biggest prize fund, at €250,000.

The Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup for 2008 will be run on 23 April.

Traditionally run as Wednesday’s feature race at the Punchestown Festival, the Punchestown Guinness Cup is a 3 mile, 1 furlong race that attracts the top Irish and UK racers. Winners of the Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup include Imperial Call, Kicking King and War of Attrition – all also Cheltenham Gold Cup winners. Legendary Florida Pearl, First Gold and Beef Or Salmon have also won this race.

2007 Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup

In 2007 the Guinness Gold Cup was won by Neptune Collonges, ridden by top Punchestown Festival jockey Ruby Walsh, trained by UK-based Paul Nicholls and owned by John Hales. With odds of 8/1, six-year-old Neptune Collonges took the lead against In Compliance, Racing Demon, and Beef Or Salmon from the start. He went on to capture the race at three-and-a-half lengths against second-position Kingscliff. The race favourite at odds of 6/4, In Compliance took third position. Fourth was secured by Racing Demon.

Of the win by Neptune Collonges, trainer Paul Nicholls said, “He’s always threatened to be a decent horse – he would have been second to Exotic Dancer at Cheltenham and is still only a six-year-old. This was the ideal race for him as I’m not sure he actually likes Cheltenham; he much prefers a track like this.”

For details of other Grade 1 wins at the 2007 Punchestown Festival, see 2007 Punchestown Grade 1 winners. For a full list of all the 2007 results, see our 2007 National Hunt Festival winners page.Who do you think will win the 2008 Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup? For horseracing betting and daily special offers, we recommend William Hill.