Minella Indo on track for Punchestown

Cheltenham Gold Cup winner Minella Indo is primed for a run in the Punchestown Gold Cup at the end of April.

The eight-year-old fended off a charge from stablemate A Plus Tard to give Henry de Bromhead a one-two in the prestigious showpiece race at the Cheltenham Festival.

With A Plus Tard set for a run at Aintree next weekend, Minella Indo will be expected to perform well and claim another big-race triumph in the 250,000 Euro feature race at Punchestown’s end-of-season meeting.

De Bromhead is confident he can replicate that form from Cheltenham, saying: “It (Gold Cup) was a hard race, as you would expect, and A Plus Tard pushed him all the way, but he seems to be good since.

“Like all the horses that ran in Cheltenham, we will give him as much time as he needs and just see how he is before getting going again, but we would hopefully be returning to Punchestown with him.

“He won the Grade One three-mile novice hurdle at the Festival two years ago, following up from the Albert Bartlett at Cheltenham, so he does like it around Punchestown.”