The tried and trusted can blend successfully with the new and hopeful when Klairon Davis bids to land a third successive BMW Chase on the opening day of the revamped Punchestown festival.
One year and £8.75 million later, the Co Kildare track returns to racing's front line with what is being hyped as a new facility that will make the last great festival of the jump season proper truly peerless. Now the hype has to be lived up to.
On the competitive side out on the track there will be nothing but pluses to build up the excitement. An impressive opening day's card is highlighted by the £50,000 BMW and while the ambience might be fresh, the hardy perennial Klairon Davis will slip into most punter's reckoning with the ease and comfort of an old slipper.
Which is not to invite accusations of ageism. Klairon Davis is after all only nine but such has been his level of consistent quality that he will be a reassuringly familiar face today. Twice already he has won this limited handicap: It doesn't require the mental agility of an Einstein to row in with the theory if it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Seeing the name Arthur Moore next to his name doesn't buck the trend either despite the presence of such as the Liverpool winner Opera Hat or the Tony McCoyridden Cheltenham victor Edredon Bleu. Fifty times in the last 10 years, Moore has stood in the old Punchestown winners enclosure to make him the leading trainer on the track. Much too shrewd to exude over confidence, he nevertheless must be hopeful of making a quick visit to the new number one spot.
"Klairon Davis is very well and he has had a good break since Cheltenham," Moore said yesterday, a comment that also applies to Edredon Bleu. Although presumption can be dangerous it's hard to escape the conclusion that today's race will be decided between the well being of both.
Opera Hat could blow that one out of the water but admirably tough though she is, John Fowler's mare had a hard race when winning at Liverpool on diabolical ground. Today's forecast "soft" surface won't be a problem but will the effects of Liverpool be?
The English trained pair of Big Matt (second last year) and Lord Dorcet are undeniably talented but the Grand Annual winner Edredon Bleu looks much the more interesting. He showed brilliant speed at Cheltenham and could be improving still further but he is almost a stone out of this limited handicap proper and faces softer going than at Cheltenham.
Against that, Kairon Davis now needs the soft over two miles, clearly revels on the tough track and the evidence over the years that he truly comes into his own at this time of year is compelling. The scales look to be in his favour.
The main supporting race is the £40,000 Country Pride Champion Novices Hurdle and this too will be viewed by most as a match. His Song bids to claw back the seven lengths by which French Ballerina beat him in Cheltenham's Supreme Novices Hurdle and this time will have McCoy on his back for the first time.
Besides that, and the softer surface this time, nothing much else has changed between the two. French Ballerina looked exceptional at Cheltenham, quickening whereas His Song stayed on. Trainer Pat Flynn believes she has even improved since then. That will be enough for most.
How testing the ground at Punchestown could be is emphasised by Tom Taaffe's decision to run his Power Gold Cup winner Delphi Lodge in the Bradstock Novices Chase rather than tomorrow's Heineken Gold Cup over half a mile further.
The move should pay off because although Delphi Lodge has flattered to deceive in the past, this race looks an easier option and Tom Treacy should be able to repeat the trick he performed at Fairyhouse in keeping the grey wide of his competitors.
The last leg of the jackpot, which is guaranteed for £40,000, is the 23 runner Rohcon Handicap Chase, a contest guaranteed to test the mettle of even the sturdiest jackpot punter. Maybe the solution can be provided by Roundwood, a faller at the first in the Irish Grand National but who on his absolute best form doesn't look too badly weighted.
The Ernst & Young Chase over the spectacular banks course sees the first four from last year return and although the winner then, Tearaway King, has to give 5lb away and may prefer better going, Enda Bolger's record in this means he is hard to oppose. In the opening Bishopscourt Cup, the first three from last term return and Sally Willows, winner of a point to point this year, could also stage a repeat.
The Fairyhouse winner Nuzum Road Makers could be improving enough to take a hand in the finish of the handicap hurdle while the form of Tax Exempt's second to Colonel Yaeger on his debut looks good enough for the concluding bumper.
The Sligo meeting scheduled for yesterday but called off because of waterlogging has been switched to May 6th with the first off at 5.30. New entries must be made by May 1st.
