A couple of Willie Mullins monsters and a horse attempting a five-timer - Friday's punting pointers

Punting pointers from some of Friday's meetings. . .

Limerick: Grade 1 star returns

All eyes will be on how Willie Mullins' juggernauts Gaelic Warrior and Ballyburn get on at Leopardstown and Kempton respectively, but he also unleashes a Grade 1 star of the past for his belated comeback at Limerick.

That horse is Kilcruit, who has not been seen for 513 days but makes his return in the 2m4f hurdle (2.02) under Brian Hayes. Now a nine-year-old, his last run came when down the field in the 2023 Galway Plate, but he had impressively won a contest at the Punchestown festival that year too.

Kilcruit had landed the Punchestown Champion Bumper as well in 2021, but his career has failed to hit the heights since then and faces four rivals, including stablemate Jalila Moriviere.

The five-year-old is an interesting recruit for Mullins and owner JP McManus, having finished her career in France when second in Listed company.

Kilcruit14:02 Limerick

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Jky: Brian Hayes Tnr: W P Mullins

Limerick key stat: a jockey it pays to follow

No jockey has ridden Limerick better this season than Philip Byrnes, who has a 31 per cent strike-rate and £51.78 profit to a £1 level-stake bet. He has two rides: Let Him B (3.11) and On Your Way (3.41).

Let Him B15:11 Limerick

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Jky: Philip Byrnes Tnr: C Byrnes

On Your Way15:41 Limerick

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Jky: Philip Byrnes Tnr: C Byrnes

Wetherby: who will come out on top in the Castleford?

What a festive present it could be for fans of the enigmatic Harper's Brook if he could land the William Hill Castleford Handicap Chase (2.45).

The eight-year-old has won only once since November 2022 and he sparked back to form for the first time since joining Dan Skelton when second at 22-1 at Newbury earlier this month. His main rival could be the rock-solid Pay The Piper, who has won twice at this track and has not been out of the first two in his last five starts.

A field of just four line up for the feature race of the track's two-day festive meeting, which also include Parisencore for Nicky Richards and the Peter Niven-trained Malystic, who won the race when it was last staged two years ago.

Niven said: "He's in good form and hopefully it's a good bit better ground than he ran on last time. If so, we'd be thinking he could run a good race. He's won on both of his starts at Wetherby before and he should go well again."

Wolverhampton key stat: the Main woman

Heather Main's two-year-old runners not in nurseries have a terrific £64.88 profit to a £1 level-stake at the track this season. She runs Prodigal Son (5.00) and Island Hero (5.30), who fit that category.

Prodigal Son17:00 Wolverhampton (A.W)

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Jky: Trevor Whelan Tnr: Heather Main

Island Hero17:30 Wolverhampton (A.W)

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Jky: Trevor Whelan Tnr: Heather Main

Wolverhampton: will Havana by Sky-high again?

Havana Sky has been on a remarkable run on the all-weather this winter and attempts to rattle off his five-timer in the 6f handicap (4.00).

Trained by Ed Dunlop, the three-year-old won once on turf during the summer, but has proved to be a revelation since switching to the all-weather.

His winning run has been all the more impressive as it has come in a period of just over a month. After winning at Southwell in mid-November, he scored at Lingfield before successfully returning to the Nottinghamshire track, and was a brave winner over this course and distance six days ago.

He makes a rapid return under Hector Crouch, who has partnered him to two of the wins in his four-timer, although he runs off a 6lb higher mark than for last week's victory and has topweight to contend with too.