Cheltenham Betting
Champion Bumper - Cheltenham Wednesday
This years Cheltenham Bumper is shaping up to be one of the most competitive renewals ever. The first six in the market are separated by three points with favouritism lying with the Dermot Weld trained Elegant Concorde. Weld is double handed in the race, having co second favourite Hidden Universe too. The Irish dominate the market, holding five of the first six in the market, and if history is anything to go by, an Irish trained horse will be lead into the winners enclosure. The last English trained winner came in 2003 via the Martin Pipe yard and the U.K trainers look to have their work cut out again. The leading ‘English’ contender is headed by the Paul Nicholls’ trained Al Ferof. He was an impressive winner of a Newbury bumper, just after he was bought from Liz Doyle’s Irish yard. If he wins, I think many will try and claim an Irish victory.
Current favourite is Dermot Weld’s Elegant Concorde. The son of Definite Article has only seen a race track twice, winning once and filling the runner-up berth on the other occasion. Both runs were very encouraging and both have been superbly franked. He looks a high class animal, who travels strongly in his races and also stays well. With the forecast better ground reported to bring out further improvement, Robbie McNamara’s mount should go very close, and looks decent value at 11-2.
Of the Willie Mullins trained horses, I fancy Bishopsfurze but the market states otherwise, as he is still a 14-1 shot. I was blown away by his performance on debut. The amount of ground the son of Broadway Flyer made up was unbelievable. He must have made up twenty lengths in the final two and a half furlongs, maybe even more, to get up and win by a cosy five in the end. The form doesn’t amount to much but the performance was breath taking. The horse he beat into second, Foildubh, is not high class but is no slouch either. Strictly, and I mean strictly, on the form book Elegant Concorde is five lengths ahead of Bishopsfurze, that’s with an extra run under his belt though. This reads very encouragingly for the Willie Mullins trained horse, as I expect him to improve hugely from his debut run. Another huge plus is his sire. He’s by Broadway Flyer, who will give an injection of speed into his pedigree. Like the favourite, he too will enjoy the better ground. A massive chance for me and a huge price at 14-1.
Get on now with non runner no bet with the majority of firms.
Of the rest, nothing else has really taken my eye, compared to the above two. I was impressed with Dermot Weld’s other horse, Hidden Universe, on his debut after he quickened away very smartly for a seven length win. However, that was on very soft ground. He is more then likely to encounter quicker conditions at Cheltenham, which won’t be ideal, but with such speed in his pedigree, if he handles the ground, he could shake up the above two.
Drumbaloo, quite simply, isn’t for me.
Day Of A Life Time looks smart but I prefer the other Mullins horse.
Shoot From The Hip also looks smart and his flat sire could hold the key, as his last performance was impressive.
All in all I can’t get away from Elegant Concorde and Bishopsfurze. I wouldn’t put you off backing any of them but at the prices, Bishopsfurze looks great value. 14-1 is huge especially after his last performance. I’ll probably back both but make sure you’re on the Mullins horse at that price.
