Connell believes "conditions will be ideal" for William Munny

When William Munny competes in the Race & Stay At Punchestown Champion I.N.H. Flat Race against the formidable stables of Willie Mullins and Gordon Elliott, Barry Connell anticipates that Munny will make an impression.

This year's six-person team is led by Champion Bumper hero Jasmin De Vaux. It should come as no surprise that Mullins has dominated this Grade One competition in recent seasons, saddling seven of the last ten winners.

Elliott saddles the second and sixth from Cheltenham in The Yellow Clay and Romeo Coolio. However, Munny Connell feels he has a possible flaw in William.

The Westerner gelding is now two for two in the bumper division. His owner and trainer commented after his visually stunning performance at Naas, which came after a close debut victory at Navan: “In my view, he’s the best bumper horse in the country and I’m hoping he’ll be a Grade One horse over a hurdle next year.”

Connell has not lost faith in his charge despite his overall form not working out as expected. Having kept his powder dry for Punchestown, he is expecting a strong showing in County Kildare. The runner-up from both races was soundly defeated afterwards.

Connell said: “We weren’t going to go to Cheltenham with him, so we gave him a month off out in the field and a nice break to freshen him up and he’s in great form. He did his last piece of work on Saturday and he’s certainly in as good a form as he was going to Naas, so we couldn’t be happier with him. He’s second or third favourite for the race on Wednesday and who knows what would have happened if he’d gone over to Cheltenham? I think he’s definitely up in the top one or two (bumper horses) and I wouldn’t swap him for anything else in the race.”