Punchestown Gold Cup Tips: Quito De La Roque

The Punchestown Gold Cup (5.30) looks a great renewal but it also creates a quandary. On ratings Sir Des Champs looks hard to beat, he was second in the Gold Cup and rallied well to finish ahead of Long Run despite the pair going for home too soon.

The worry is that he finished the race legless and is 40 days long enough to recover?

Thankfully BetVictor are refunding losing bets if your horse finishes second to a Willie Mullins trained horse, like Sir Des Champs, which gives me the option of looking for another horse in the race.

That brings me to Quito De La Roque. On ratings he is the sixth best horse and realistically he is a Grade 2 performer, but on heavy ground his is a different proposition.

In nine races on ground containing the word ‘heavy’ in the description, he’s won six times finishing second in the other three. The official description at Punchestown is ‘soft’ but the times recorded yesterday suggest the going is very testing.

Four of yesterday’s seven races were run in a slower time than the comparable card last year, when the going was described as ‘soft to heavy’. 

These conditions bring Quito De La Roque into play and at 16/1 (BetVictor) we are guaranteed our money back as a free bet if he finishes second to Sir Des Champs.

Money Back Mullins - BetVictor
If your selection finishes 2nd to a Willie Mullins-trained winner BetVictor will refund your losing win stake up to £25 as a free bet!

*Best Odds Guaranteed – BetVictor
Back Quito De La Roque with BetVictor as they are best price and offer Best Odds Guaranteed. If the starting price (SP) is bigger than the current price, you get paid at the bigger SP.