Saturday, 17 November 2012 - Sunday, 18 November 2012
Punchestown start their season off in style with the two-day Winter Festival in mid-November. The highlight of this meeting is the Grade 1 Dobbins & Madigans at Punchestown Hurdle which has always served as an excellent early-season trial for the Champion Hurdle at Cheltenham. It often serves as the first opportunity for the previous season’s top novice hurdlers to take on the established hurdlers and thus, it is invariably a highly-anticipated race by the racing public. Horses such as Moscow Flyer, Limestone Lad, Harchibald, Brave Inca and Hardy Eustace have all won the race, with the 2009 and 2010 renewals being won by the Charles Byrnes-trained Solwhit. The Grade 2 Craddockstown Novice Chase is another highlight on the card and it has been won by such stars as Limestone Lad, Moscow Flyer and Sizing Europe.
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