PUNCHESTOWN SATURDAY

3:50 G1 Mares’ Hurdle

Marie’s Rock (Nico De Boinville)
It was fantastic to see her gain a deserved G1 at Cheltenham last time, even more so for her owners, Middleham Park Racing, who are a great bunch and put a lot into the game. She’s come out of that in excellent form and comes into this nice and fresh having skipped Aintree. Whatever happens here she owes us nothing and has obviously gained valuable Black Type.

Epatante (Aidan Coleman)
She looks a million dollars, and I really mean it! In fact she’s actually still quite fat but it doesn’t seem to stop her because she has been brilliant all the way through this year. I was extremely impressed with her at Aintree last time and she’s absolutely thrived since then. We looked at taking in Honeysuckle but she’s beaten us three times now so I can’t really see a reason for that not to happen again, therefore this looked the most suitable option and we know she gets the trip.