Given the cold spell early last month and the loss of several high-profile meetings, we haven’t seen too many pointers towards the Weatherbys Champion Bumper since the last post.
Those abandonments included the loss of Listed bumpers at both Ascot and Navan, whilst Queens Gamble was forced to miss a Listed race at Huntingdon on Peterborough Chase day and is likely to bid to complete the hat-trick at Market Rasen, on Friday 20th January.
Another horse who won at Cheltenham earlier this season and possibly should have been covered in the initial feature, is the John McConnell-trained Encanto Bruno. The five-year-old beat Cato Capone (winner at Punchestown in November) in a maiden Point and made a winning Rules debut in a bumper at Cork during the summer. Heavily-supported for the bumper at the October meeting, he won what was a falsely-run race, but the form has worked out well since and the son of Mahler is now enjoying a mid-season break. Runner-up Strong Leader has won both starts over hurdles, whilst Mamoon Star (4th) and Gentle Slopes (5th) both won next time out, so the form reads quite well and given that both bumper victories were gained on good ground, he could well head straight to the festival. Currently a 20-1 shot for the Champion Bumper, he shouldn’t be underestimated if the ground isn’t too dissimilar come festival week.
The Willie Mullins-trained Chapeau du Soleil has been prominent in the betting for some time now and despite being beaten on his debut under Rules, at Fairyhouse on Hatton’s Grace Hurdle day, remains towards the head of the market. Forced to make the running, he took a keen grip and after dropping away (looked awkward around the right-handed track), stayed on strongly in the closing stages and is probably better judged after his next start.
The winner of that race was Better Days Ahead, who was himself beaten at short-odds on his Rules debut at Down Royal by Carnfunnock, who won on hurdling debut subsequently, but more recently has been beaten at Punchestown. He didn’t look to have the pace of the winner on that occasion and kept-on well to win at Fairyhouse. Again, he is fairly prominent in the ante-post market for the Champion Bumper and probably needs to show improved form to justify that position.
As is often the case, there were several interesting bumper winners at Leopardstown’s Christmas fixture, although one who isn’t eligible to run in the Champion Bumper is Ile Atlantique, despite the fact that he is priced up at 12-1 by three firms, including BetVictor and Betway. Having finished third over hurdles at Auteuil in the spring, he isn’t eligible for bumpers in Britain, or Graded races in Ireland, so he will likely be sent hurdling.
Perhaps the pick of the Leopardstown winners was the Thomas Mullins-trained Fascile Mode, who scored by 2¾ lengths under the trainer’s son, Charlie. Taking on experienced rivals and previous winners, the son of Walk In The Park travelled well on debut and was asked to close-in on the leading group leaving the far side. Forced wide on the home turn, he picked up stylishly once asked for his effort two furlongs from home and he was well on top at the line. Carrying the colours of Mrs Helen Mullins, it will be interesting to see if he attracts any interest from one of the leading Irish owners and he could return to the same track for the Grade 2 at the Dublin Racing Festival, a race which could be quite informative in terms of the Irish pecking order.
It is worth noting that the aforementioned Cato Capone was beaten 42 lengths by Fascile Mode, although it is likely that he failed to run to form, having earlier beaten Lecky Watson, who finished runner-up in the same race. And, another point to note from the Leopardstown meeting is that the much-vaunted Barry The Butcher failed to take up his engagement in a bumper on the opening day. The owners instead relied upon runner-up Did I Ask You That in the four-year-old contest, so it is hoped that the impressive Irish Point-to-Point winner makes his debut under Rules very soon. His form hasn’t been tested too much this season, although Man At Work did win a novices’ hurdle at Aintree (beating recent Kempton winner Grey Dawning), whilst Ballybeg Boss (beaten 40+ lengths into 3rd) finished runner-up in a Hereford bumper for Donald McCain recently.
Domestically, Cheltenham staged their Listed “Junior” bumper on New Year’s Day and it was won in determined fashion by Fiercely Proud, who was making a successful debut for the Ben Pauling yard. A winner over 1m5f at Market Rasen in October when trained by Don Cantillon, the Iffraaj gelding was subsequently purchased for £125,000 by Tim Radford, owner of the likes of Racing Demon and Somersby. He stayed on best of all (1m6f, soft), suggesting that stepping up to 2m will suit once forced to take on his elders in the coming weeks. Newbury would be an option next month, but it is likely that his connections will consider a tilt at the Champion Bumper, having shown his ability to handle the track. It should be remembered, however, that Cue Card is the only four-year-old winner of the Champion Bumper during the past 26 renewals, during which time no fewer than 87 horses from that age group have taken their chance. Acey Milan won the New Year’s Day race in 2018 before finishing fourth in the Champion Bumper, whilst The New One was successful in 2012 before finishing sixth at the festival and then went on to win the Grade 2 at Aintree, where he beat My Tent Or Yours, no less, with Many Clouds down the field in 11th.
At a lesser level, we have now twice been impressed by the Henry Daly-trained Bowenspark, who defied a penalty at Warwick on New Year’s Eve. Successful on good ground at Uttoxeter on debut (had a Listed winner back in fourth that day), he finished strongly on soft ground to run down Katate Dori, who was sent off favourite for the Listed bumper at Cheltenham in November on his racecourse debut (suggesting he is well-regarded and shows plenty at home). Still quite green, he showed a fine attitude to concede 7lbs to the runner-up and whilst it is unknown as to whether or not his connections would opt to point him towards one of the Graded races in the spring, he is most certainly a name for the notebook. At the time of writing, Henry Daly has his horses in fine form – having saddled six winners from 19 runners between 20th December and 1st January – and this five-year-old looks a bright long-term prospect for the Shropshire-based trainer.