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The Cheltenham Festival is on the horizon and with racegoers back in attendance at Prestbury Park for the first time since the 2020 renewal of the meeting, excitement is understandably rife ahead of the prestigious four-day event next month. While Gold Cup Day is always the most anticipated, as reflected in the unprecedented ticket sales for the last of the four-day event this year, day two (or Ladies’ Day) looks set to have the most thrilling card of the week.
With four Grade 1 races, including the Championship contest, the Queen Mother Champion Chase — which promises to be one of the races of the Festival as Shishkin and Energumene go head-to-head for the second time this season — two Grade 3s and the Cross Country Chase, there’s plenty for those looking for the best odds on horse racing to sink their teeth into.
The final race of the day offers something slightly different to what we see throughout the rest of the week though, with the top-grade Champion Bumper being the most prestigious flat race on the National Hunt racing calendar. It’s a contest that has been dominated by Willie Mullins, as the Irish trainer has 11 career victories in the Bumper, but will he have his way again this year? Read on as we take a look at some of the favourites.
Facile Vega
If the Champion Bumper’s ante-post market is anything to go by, then Mullins will add a 12th victory to his impressive Cheltenham Festival résumé — which is already 78 winners long ahead of this year’s meeting. Facile Vega is the Closutton handler’s best shot at a third successive victory in the two-mile, half-a-furlong race and is the odds-on favourite after winning both of his outings this season. The five-year-old won his debut in a two-mile flat race at Leopardstown on Boxing Day and returned to the course for the Grade 2 Future Stars Flat Race at the recent Dublin Racing Festival — winning by an impressive 12 lengths. He’ll join a fine list of previous winners if he does win, including Ferny Hollow and Sir Gerhard.
American Mike
So often at the Cheltenham Festival, the elite races are contested by horses from the top Irish yards, and the Champion Bumper looks set to be no different with Gordon Elliott’s American Mike in next in line in the betting market. Another unbeaten contender, the five-year-old made his debut at Down Royal back in October, beating Royal Romeo by a comfortable seven lengths in the Lisburn Bowl Flat Race. However, it was his second performance that was perhaps the more impressive as he eased home 17 lengths clear of Battling Bessie in the Listed Future Champions Flat Race at Navan in December. He may be less favoured than Facile Vega, but it will certainly be an interesting battle.
Redemption Day
Unsurprisingly, we go back to Mullins’ contingent now as Redemption Day is the third favourite in the ante-post betting. It’s hard to really know what to expect from the five-year-old as we have seen so little of him during his juvenile season this year, but he did have a good debut at the Leopardstown Christmas Festival — impressively prevailing on his status as the heavy odds-on favourite to beat Elliott’s Music Drive in a INH Flat Race. A relative of 2011 Bumper winner Cheltenian and trained by the experienced Mullins, it would be foolish to rule him out.
