Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup

The Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup is a Grade 1 steeple-chase run at Punchestown Racecourse over a distance of 3m 1f with the horses taking on seventeen fences before crossing the finishing line.

The Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup takes place on day two of the five-day Punchestown Festival which takes place at the end of the Irish National Hunt racing season.  The Punchestown Festival 2012 is very much a highlight of both the Irish social and racing calendar and will run from Tuesday 24th April 2012 to Saturday 28th April 2012.   With the prize money for the Punchestown Festival  standing at €3,000,000 and with eleven Grade 1 races over the five-day-festival it’s little doubt that the racing fixture attracts the finest National Hunt horses from Britain and France, as well as Ireland.  With many of those going to post having already locked horns earlier in the National Hunt season at major race meetings at Cheltenham and Aintree.

The Punchestown Festival day 2, Guinness Gold Cup Day will take place on Wednesday 25th April 2012 and will include the following races:

• 3.40pm  The Martinstown Opportunity Series Final Handicap Hurdle
• 4.20pm Louis Fitzgerald Hotel Hurdle
• 4.55pm The Madra Dog Food Novice Hurdle
• 5.30pm The Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup – Grade 1
• 6.05pm  The betchronicle.com Champion National Hunt Flat Race
• 6.40pm The Irish Daily Mirror Handicap Chase
• 7.15pm Brian Price Memorial Champion Hunters Chase

Prior to 1999 the Punchestown Gold Cup was run for novice chasers only; Arkle won the race in 1963.  The steeple-chase has been run in its current format since 1999 when the race was first won by the Raymond Hurley trained Imperial Call ridden by Ruby Walsh.  The most successful horse in the race is the Paul Nicholls trained Neptune Collonges who won back-to-back victories in the Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup 2007 and 2008.  These victories for the Ditcheat handler make him the most successful trainer of the Punchestown Gold Cup.

Irish National Hunt champion jockey Ruby Walsh is the most successful jockey in the Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup having won it four times with Imperial Call (1999), Commanche Court (2000) and Neptune Collonges (2007 and 2008).

The Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup has been run at Punchestown Racecourse at Naas, Co. Kildare, Ireland, except in 2001 when the race was staged instead at Fairyhouse Racecourse. Known previously as the Heineken Gold Cup it has been sponsored since 2005 by the drinks manufacturer Diageo whose Guinness brand now gives the race its name.

The Punchestown Guinness Gold Cup 2011 was won by the Oliver McKiernan trained Follow The Plan.  The eight year old bay gelding by Accordian out of Royal Rosy came home eleven lengths clear of second place Vic Venturi trained by Dessie Hughes, with Vic Venturi’s stable-mate Rare Bob back in third.  The Paul Nicholls trained multiple winner of the King George VI Chase and Cheltenham Gold Cup, Kauto Star, was pulled-up four from home.  Many commentators suggested that Kauto Star should be retired following the poor performance but Kauto Star shrugged off his critics with a fine display winning the Betfair Chase 2011 at Haydock Park.