Cheltenham Head-to-Heads: The Champion Bumper

/ Graham Cunningham / 11 March 2010 / Leave a Comment

Neither of our men has a strong shout on the winner of the Champion Bumper but once again they're looking to Ireland for their likely bets

Graham Cunningham: The good news is that I have a very rewarding system to pass on as regards the Festival Bumper.

But the bad news is that it will only bear fruit for those able to grab a good spot against the paddock rail in order to inspect some of the finest jumping prospects from both sides of the Irish Sea.

Year after year this eagerly-awaited contest unveils a string of young hopefuls who have everything it takes to make the grade over hurdles and last year's renewal featured a stellar selection headed by Dunguib and backed up by a supporting cast including Rite Of Passage, Quel Esprit, Morning Supreme and Shinrock Paddy.

All those four were trained in Ireland - and history suggests it would be unwise to assume the green and gold stranglehold will be broken this year - but I would be lying to suggest I have a firm idea as to which of the raiders will prove strongest.

Dermot Weld sends a potent-looking duo in Elegant Concorde and Hidden Universe, while Day Of A Lifetime looked very good on his debut for Festival Bumper king Willie Mullins.
Shot From The Hip's connections have secured the unique services of JP Magnier for an unbeaten gelding with ample scope, but it's worth repeating that no gamble on the Bumper is complete without that final piece of the jigsaw puzzle which paddock inspection provides.


Will Hayler: Not necessarily my favourite race at the meeting either - indeed I had to go on to Wikipedia to look up the race's recent winners because I could only remember two or three, and one of those was Rhinestone Cowboy, who it turns out didn't even win it (Jamie Spencer reducing me to a fit of rage, not for the first or last time).

Graham has rightfully reminded us that the Irish team have enjoyed a virtual monopoly of this contest. Picking up this particular baton and running with it, I would have to be interested in laying Al Ferof win and place at [11.5] and [4.5]. Reading between the lines of Paul Nicholls' recent comments at the preview evenings, I get the feeling this race is being taken in at the wishes of owner John Hales rather than the trainer.

A winner of a heavy-ground bumper at Faryhouse for former trainer Liz Doyle, he made a solid start to his British career when winning at Newbury, but this will be a lot tougher and this Irish point-to-point scorer will surely find at least three of these rivals have too much speed. It's not as if Nicholls' previous runners in this race have blown the house down either.

But in the words of Moe Szyslak, now I've told you what the winner ain't, how about I tell you what it am? Well, like my colleague, I can't. Funnily enough, JP Magnier's booking for Shot From The Hip doesn't really worry me. The young Magnier has made his mistakes, but he got it right when winning on this horse on both of his previous starts.

Forced to make a choice, I wouldn't say neigh to Tavern Times at [13.0]. Willie Mullins may have been the man to follow in this race in the past, but his brother Tom went close with Some Present in this race last year and this horse's profile ticks the stats boxes, if you're in to that kind of thing.