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Brighterdaysahead set for Punchestown as Gordon Elliott opts to skip Aintree Hurdle 1j5b4f
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Brighterdaysahead will run over hurdles for the final time at the Punchestown Festival next month as Team Cullentra opt to sidestep Aintree.
Brighterdaysahead Next Run: Punchestown Champion Or Mares’ Hurdle 416227
Brighterdaysahead was entered in the Aintree Hurdle but the quick turnaround from Cheltenham proved too sharp for the mare who will stay on home soil and target Punchestown instead.
The six-year-old is believed to have picked up a ‘small issue’ early on when finishing a disappointing fourth in the Champion Hurdle last month and Gigginstown boss Eddie O’Leary later revealed they thought they had discovered the root.
Connections had preferred a left-handed run at Aintree to going right-handed at Punchestown but trainer Gordon Elliott explained the three-week gap between Britain’s two biggest festivals wasn’t enough to get the horse back on song.
Following a bitter defeat in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at Cheltenham last year, she hosed up in the Mersey Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree a month later and justified her initial promise.
Brighterdaysahead will undergo another four weeks of work before tackling either the Punchestown Champion Hurdle or Mares’ Champion Hurdle in May.
Elliott assured O’Leary that Brighterdaysahead is in ‘very good form’ at home and the owner suggested to RTE a run in the mares’ race is the likelier option.
She landed her first Grade 1 in open company at the Kildare venue in November when getting the better of State Man in the Morgiana Hurdle.
WATCH: Brighterdaysahead battles back to beat State Man in the Morgiana p4s34
That impressive performance was followed up by an even better effort in the December Festival Hurdle at Leopardstown over Christmas when a shrewd tactical set-up by Danny Gilligan on stablemate King Of Kingsfield saw Brighterdaysahead storm home under Sam Ewing by 30 lengths.
WATCH: Brighterdaysahead produces a run for the ages in the December Festival Hurdle p1i2n
Her next run will be her last over the smaller obstacles as the Elliott camp prepare to send the three-time Grade 1 winner over fences next season.
According to the best horse racing betting sites, Brighterdaysahead is a 12/1 shot to win the Arkle and 4/1 to land the Mares’ Chase in 2025.