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| Running Up That Hill - last year's Bumper winner Briar Hill can follow up in the Albert Bartlett |
That said, it is one of the top two I fancy for the novice staying hurdle event, and a previous festival winner at that.
Willie Mullins once again has an exceptional pack of novice hurdlers and it’s taken some shuffling to get each horse in the right place. You’d be a brave person to suggest that the final plans were anywhere near concrete just yet but thankfully now Bet365 have gone Non Runner No Bet on every festival race it allows us to wager ante-post with a lot less trepidation.
Time and time again at Cheltenham you see horses that have run well at the festival before replicate that form, and in recent years the number of horses that have won a race and then come back and won again the following year has been rather startling.
The Champion Bumper in particular is a race in which victorious horses, and even placed horses, almost always come back in latter years and run well again.
Just in the last six years we’ve had Dunguib finish in the money in the Supreme twelve months on from a runaway Bumper success, Cue Card come back and run well in the Supreme before a placed effort in the Arkle and a dominant Ryanair win and most recently Champagne Fever win the Supreme one year removed from taking the Bumper.
Last year’s Bumper winner Briar Hill also hails from the Willie Mullins yard and comes in to this year’s festival with a perfect record.