5.30 2m. 87yds. 19 Declared. Weatherbys Champion Bumper (Standard Open NH Flat Race) (Grade 1) (GBB Race) (Class 1 ) of £80,000.00 4/6-y-o
1st - €45,560.00 2nd - €17,096.00 3rd - €8,560.00 4th - €4,264.00 5th - €2,144.00 6th - €1,072.00
Formscan - There have been no UK-trained winners of this prestigious race since Ballyandy's success back in 2016, so it looks best to focus on the Irish contenders, of which Willie Mullins boasts yet another strong hand. With three of the previous 12 winners coming out of the Grade 2 Future Stars INH at Leopardstown, YOU OUGHTA KNOW, who finished second in that contest, has excellent credentials. The son of Beat Hollow thumped a smart rival on his debut at Kilbeggan and it is impossible to know where the ceiling of his ability might be. Stablemate Jasmin De Vaux could hardly have been more impressive when routing his rivals at Naas in January, though, and he is favoured in the ante-post market. Gordon Elliott will be hopeful he can break the Mullins stranglehold and his Jalon D'oudairies, who was picked up for 425,000 pounds at the sales in March of last year, could be his best chance. Romeo Coolio was yet another to impress on his racecourse bow, despite being keen in a five-runner event, so he could be smuggled into contention in this larger field. Paul Nicholls can fly the English flag with the promising son of Westerner Teeshan, while it would be unwise to underestimate the Ben Pauling-trained Sixmilebridge, who gave the impression he had plenty more in the tank when winning at Sandown last month.