Punchestown

TRACK GUIDE

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Punchestown is widely regarded as the home of National Hunt racing in Ireland, and it has had a long association with point-to-point racing, stretching back as far as the 1840s, when members of the Kildare Hunt Club bought the lands at Punchestown.

Point-to-Point racing at the course takes place on a sharper track than the Chase course at Punchestown, with the point-to-point being held inside the inner hurdles course, running alongside the ambulance road.

Whilst the rules racing at Punchestown is held on a right-handed configuration, the point-to-point has raced in both directions, although of late, the point-to-point has followed the tradition of the rules course by also going right-handed.

The four-year-old maiden takes place over the shorter 2m4f trip, ensuring that the runners start just before the winning post, and have two full circuits to complete.

In the standard 3-mile races, the runners start in the back straight with a short run to the first fence, which is the last of two fences positioned along the back. Following a decent run on the level, the second fence is taken on the run before the home straight, with fence three being the only fence located in the home straight.

After taking a notable decent on exiting the home straight, the field take fence four on their run away from the stands before entering the back straight. Only two fences are jumped in the final half-a-mile.