Punchestown preview: Morgiana Hurdle the jewel on fabulous card

Willie Mullins made an interesting and worrying observation after he was questioned about scratching a few horses having visited Navan on Fortria day, their withdrawals reducing the quality of the card notably.

I am paraphrasing but he said something to the effect that having 500kgs of horse jump a fence at nearly 40mph entails such impact on the landing side of a fence that you need to be pretty confident about how the horse will come out of it. You are naturally going to tread carefully with top-class winter horses.

Mullins pointed out that it had been so dry this summer, there is essentially only so much winter tracks can do, with a compression of the turf underneath worsened over months. Leopardstown certainly needs to heed this concern ahead of Christmas but, thankfully, the great man has laid out a scatter of horses for Punchestown and Cork on Sunday.

Most eyes will be on Punchestown but fans of the Irish fare are spoilt for choice. I'll be in Mallow attempting to get some insight from a few characters; racing commences early and it might pay to have a quiet Saturday night in order not to miss anything!

The Unibet Morgiana Hurdle (In Memory Of Michael Rafferty @AnaglogsDaughtr) (2.05) might be the first-ever race in Ireland or Britain honouring someone by his Twitter handle. Many will remember this historian from Twitter, his battle with depression and mainly his seemingly endless list of photographs of old heroes.

Mullins is seeking to make it 11 wins from the past 12 renewal. Abacadabras interrupted Mullins' sequence in 2020 and perhaps his Teahupoo could be a danger to Saldier, Sharjah and State Man - but the intriguing horse here is clearly State Man. Mullins' power in recent times is such that he can target the likes of State Man at a handicap hurdle at Cheltenham, as he did in March, and now he has seemingly a live Champion Hurdle contender. There are only five runners but this race is utterly compelling.

Old favourite Delta Work returns to the banks in the opener (11.45), a race that honours Risk Of Thunder, of whom, no doubt, Michael Rafferty had many photos on his Twitter page.

JP McManus unveils two more potential Triumph Hurdle candiates in the John Lynch Carpets 3-Y-O Hurdle (12.20), while it is arguably the talking point of the day that Gordon Elliott goes straight over fences with Minella Crooner in Grade Two company in the Liam & Valerie Brennan Florida Pearl Novice Steeplechase (1.30).

There is always a risk to such a strategy, and folk won't be long moaning if it goes wrong, but it must indicate that he is schooling exceptionally well. Idas Boy, showcasing the renewal of the Gigginstown-Cooper axis, and Thedevilscoachman are no mugs.

Cheltenham clues are plenty and the Pertemps Network Group Handicap Hurdle (3.15) is fascinating in its own right, with Coventry the type to improve on better ground as the season goes on.

Mainly, in Mallow, I await the mares' maiden chase (2.50), a race of utterly ridiculous quality on the undercard. Here are three selections.

JP McManus seems to have a pretty amazing team of ex-Flat horses hurdling at the moment and two more of them appear here. He won the race at Galway in which Impero finished second to Common Practise. That was a fine run from the gambled-on Impero and you feel whatever beats him wins this, given how he hurdled and travelled.

This horse was placed in a bumper in 2020 and ran a nice race at his local track, Mallow, previously. He has clearly had training issues but his Ballinrobe fifth over about this trip last year was encouraging and I found this a weak race. Shrewd trainer Tom Nagle perseveres.

It's doubtful Coventry, by Galileo, was in love with the soft to heavy at Galway, and his best form is on better ground. He looks to have an outstanding chance here in a winnable race on his third start for the in-form Elliott.