After assisting Gordon Elliott in reaching 200 winners for the season, Jack Kennedy is excited to be partnered with two of the stars of the Cullentra House stable at the Punchestown Festival next week.
The 25-year-old was at Irish Point and Teahupoo at Cheltenham, and both will play again on home ground.
Teahupoo won the Stayers' Hurdle by a margin of three and a quarter lengths under Kennedy, who leads Paul Townend in the race for champion jockey. Based on early betting, Kennedy is the favourite to win the Ladbrokes Champion Stayers Hurdle on Thursday.
Kennedy is optimistic that the seven-year-old will be able to back up his impressive victory in Britain with another outstanding achievement.
“Yeah, hopefully,” Kennedy told Punchestown Racecourse. “He improved a lot from last year to this year, so he is improving the whole time and fingers crossed he can run well. He’s been a great horse for me, and it was nice to ride a winner for Robcour at Cheltenham as well.”
Kennedy is optimistic that Irish Point can reverse the outcome at Punchestown after the horse finished the Champion Hurdle just one and a quarter lengths behind the clear favourite State Man.
Though it is more likely that the six-year-old will face off against Willie Mullins' strong gelding again in the Boodles Champion Hurdle, he may still pose a threat to stablemate Teahupoo.
“He ran a cracker at Cheltenham, got very close to him (State Man), so hopefully he can do something similar or go a few lengths better at Punchestown,” added Kennedy. “Looking back, I’d have liked to have sent him on a bit sooner, because obviously he stays, but it was probably a long way out to send him on as well. Hopefully, he can get closer again.”