What a treat punters are in for on day two of the Punchestown Festival 2026 with the Punchestown Gold Cup at 6:05.
Punchestown Festival 2026 Day 2: Cath Fry’s Preview
I must quickly say a huge thank you to Punchestown. They very kindly sent us ten tickets for the opening day of this Festival for our raffle at the Kwiff sponsored Cheltenham preview night at the Plough Inn in Cheltenham. They also sent Punchestown merchandise, too. Very generous of them.
Punchestown Festival 2026: Gold Cup
Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Gaelic Warrior, heads a fascinating clash with the 2025 Gold Cup winner Inothewayurthinkin and the absent-but-dangerous Fact To File, who was taken out of Cheltenham’s Ryanair Chase because of unsuitable ground.
Gaelic Warrior produced a superb display to land jump racing’s biggest prize and looks to be operating at the very top of his game. Although Fact To File has twice had his measure, both defeats came at Leopardstown, a track where Gaelic Warrior has never looked entirely at home. Back at a venue where he boasts an excellent record, he looks capable of turning that form around. Fact To File does arrive the fresher horse after missing Cheltenham, which is a clear positive, but Gaelic Warrior’s current level of form and proven effectiveness here make him the one to side with.
Inothewayurthinkin, for all his obvious class, has regularly come up short against both rivals and tends to save his very best for the Cheltenham Festival. His third in last month’s Gold Cup was admirable. My heart and my head say Gaelic Warrior as he appears to be a monster. I have never seen a horse pull clear up the Cheltenham hill like he did. After 3m2f of the toughest jumping test in the land, he was still on the bridle. This is a race to savour.
Punchestown Festival 2026: Fruit De Mer (4:15)
Fruit De Mer didn’t get the best of rides at the Cheltenham Festival. He is reunited with Darragh O’Keefe here. Cheltenham saw him travel strongly and he showed the benefit of a step up in distance when finishing a close second, beaten just 1 1/2 lengths, in the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle. He hung left in the closing stages, when running out of rail. Had he been brought stands side, the result may have been reversed. Redemption awaits here.
By Cathryn Fry
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