Today sees the ninth running of the Weatherbys Champion Bumper. Six of the previous eight races have been won by Irish trainers and half of those resulted in the monicker WP Mullins being inserted in the winning trainer's bracket. This time Willie Mullins is again the main Irish hope of success with four of his horses set to face the tapes.
Predictable it may be but try and find someone else more qualified to explain what's needed to win the race. The very nature of bumpers usually see young, immature horses with designs of steeplechasing being given gentle introductions to the racecourse. Gentle that is unless the money is down. The Cheltenham bumper is a championship event in itself, more about prestige than landing a gamble, but it seems the same physical type of horse is what you want.
Maturity is not the be all and end all, Mullins agrees. 'It doesn't seem to follow that a fiveyear-old ex-flat horse will win it. Maturity is important in that the horse has to be good and strong but the worry is that if they're mature at that age, they won't go on. But all the past winners seem to be lasting the trip,' Mullins argues.
'The one thing about the record of the race is that good horses have won it, good horses that have gone back afterwards and done well. They're usually good staying horses with good staying pedigrees. The one thing about Cheltenham is if you have any doubt about stamina, don't think of going,' he adds.
Florida Pearl and Alexander Banquet have both been prime examples of winners going on but Mullins admits it was his other winner, the subsequently injury plagued Wither Or Which, that gave him the most confidence going into the race. 'Even though Florida Pearl seems so much better now, I suppose I was more confident about Wither Or Which. I rode him every day at home and I rode him in the race too but the bit of work he did at Leopardstown a week before was brilliant.
'When Florida Pearl galloped at home, he never showed the sort of speed he showed at Cheltenham but when he got good ground on the grass he was so different. The speed he showed at the top of the hill to get a position meant he hit the front so soon. Richard (Dunwoody) told me afterwards he thought `Christ, I'm here way too early,' Mullins declares.
With the ground drying, Tuesday, who carries the Florida Pearl colours, appears the most high profile runner. 'On good ground we've always thought he has a tremendous engine. David Casey, when he rode for me, always loved him and was very impressed when he rode him work on good ground,' he states.
'BallyAmber is a serious stayer who'll go well. Joe Cullen and Be My Royal have a fair bit of work done and both won first time out. I didn't want to risk giving them a race so close to the festival,' Mullins adds before acknowledging the strong English attack this year.
Most English trainers, if they have a good horse don't try and prepare one for the Bumper because there's more money for them jumping. But this time the fancied ones are from Nicky Henderson, Mark Pitman and Noel Chance who know how to prepare a bumper horse,' he says.
One thing the trainer queries, however, is the introduction of claims for jockeys in the race. 'The view seems to be because professionals ride in it, they will allow claims to encourage amateurs but the top amateurs lose out because they aren't allowed to claim,' Mullins argues. 'I think it's a backward step to allow claims. It's a very hard race to ride in for a claimer of any sort, amateur or professional. But I'm very happy that my amateur (James Nash) will hold his own.'
History had shown that if there can be any predictability at Cheltenham, it is that WP Mullins more than holds his own in the last on Wednesday.
