Punchestown’s Jump Festival

The Punchestwon Festival is underway and is widely considered as the grande finale of the jump season with the best quality horses, trainers and jockeys from both Ireland and the UK competing in the five day event.

Punchestown is packed with great races including 11 Grade 1 contests over the 5 day event. There aren’t many rivals to the Punchestown Festival (the home of Irish National Hunt Racing) and its great race schedule including the famous La Touche Cup run over the cross country course.

The festival begins on Tuesday with Champion Chase Day and provides 3 Grade 1 races for you to enjoy; The Boylesports.com Champion Chase, the Evening Herald Champion Novice Hurdle over 2 miles and the Growise Novice Chase over 3 miles.

Wednesday is Gold Cup Day and is the highlight of the chase calendar with the 3 mile Gold Cup. Other races include the betchronicle Champion Bumper and the Grade A Handicap Chase.

The World Series Hurdle day is on Thursday and has 2 Grade 1 races for you to enjoy including The Ladbrokes World Series Hurdle and the Ryanair Novice Chase over 2 miles not to forget the thrilling La Touche Cross Country race.

Friday traditionally expects the biggest crowd of the festival all going to enjoy the party atmosphere of Champion Hurdle Day.

Finally Saturday brings the festival to a close with the AES Champion 4 year old hurdle showing us possible champions of the future. The day is typically enjoyed by a family oriented audience and there is plenty for the kids to do with bouncy castles, pony rides and face painting.