Punchestown Festival day four

We give one in every race on Friday

The continuation of the Punchestown Festival stands as the highlight of a competitive Friday of UK and Irish horse racing, with action at the Gold Cup meeting getting started at 3.40pm with an intriguing Hunters Chase.

We have picked our winner of that race, aiming to get the day off to a flyer, and if you scroll to the bottom of this page you will find a tip in each of the eight contests. Click now to place your Friday horse racing bets, or if you’re looking for a bit of inspiration, we run through our NAP and next best.

Arctic Fire to burn bright

The Punchestown Champion Hurdle is the race of the day that has everyone talking, with a dozen runners battling it out over the two-mile trip. Coral traders have Petit Mouchoir marked up as favourite in the early betting, but I plan to take the 3/1 on with something a bit livelier.

Arctic Fire, for Willie Mullins, appears to have been overlooked a touch too easily for our liking, and he’s currently available as joint-second favourite with Vroum Vroum Mag. The seven-year-old gelding has been well looked after to date and arrives with some impressive recent stats, including a win last time out at the Cheltenham Festival in March, taking a grade three County Hurdle from L’Ami Serge off a bumper SP.

Those who caught that race would’ve had him marked down as a real gutsy sort, seen plugging away at the business end to beat off his rival by the narrowest of margins. The selection knew just what was happening that day and dug deep to get the desired result. He was also spotted winning the grade one Hatton’s Grace Hurdle at Fairyhouse near the end of 2015. If he runs up to scratch he’ll go very close here, at 9/2.