Champion Bumper betting with William Hill

The Champion Bumper is the most prestigious flat race in the National Hunt season and traditionally takes place on the Wednesday of the Cheltenham Festival.

This hugely popular betting contest is for four, five and six-year-olds, which have only run in National Hunt Flat races or Irish National Hunt Flat races. Horses are only eligible to run in the Champion Bumper if they have been placed first, second, third or fourth in such a race prior to February 27^th of the same calendar year.

Established in 1992, this competitive Grade 1 contest is run over 2m 1/2f on Cheltenham’s Old Course and nearly always produces a star of the future, sometimes more than one. It’s without doubt a race that needs to be watched many times over, as it’s a rich source of high-class future big-race winners.

Legendary Irish trainer Willie Mullins has a phenomenal record and even won the race as an amateur jockey in 1996 aboard Wither Or Which. Mullins-trained runners are always very well found in Champion Bumper betting.

Champion Bumper betting tips

The Champion Bumper is a physical and mental test of relatively inexperienced horses – it’s the first time they would have experienced a noise and atmosphere anything like that of the Cheltenham Festival.

With that in mind, a sound temperament is key, and horses that have displayed signs of immaturity in their early outings rarely go on to success in this race.

Class is also hugely important. Keep onside any horse that has already defied a penalty in a bumper, especially if it was a race that threw up subsequent winners.

Not many horses win a bumper under a penalty, so those that do tend to be above average and need serious consideration in the Champion Bumper betting.

The Champion Bumper tends to be run at a strong gallop, favouring horses who stay strongly. Although contenders wouldn’t have had the chance to prove their stamina over further under rules, pay close attention to those that have been strong at the end of their races, particularly if that run came on a stiff track.

Ascot may be right-handed, but it’s a stiff test for bumper horses so any horse that wins there needs to stay well, while winning a bumper at Cheltenham, perhaps the Listed bumper in November, is obviously a very good sign.

Ballyandy won that November bumper in 2015 before going on to strike at the Cheltenham Festival four months later.

Champion Bumper betting trends

The obvious starting place for Champion Bumper betting trends is the record of Irish trainers and, more specifically, runners trained by Willie Mullins.

Mullins has an enviable record in the Champion Bumper and is more often than not responsible for the market leader. So dominant has Mullins been that he even trained the one-two-three in 2018, but it’s not always his most fancied runners that come home in front.

Relegate and Briar Hill have both defied 25/1 odds in this contest, so his runners cannot be ignored no matter what price they are in William Hill’s Champion Bumper betting.

Cue Card isn’t trained by Mullins, but he did win the Bumper at a ridiculously big 40/1 and he’s one of several big-priced winners of the race.

Favourite backers haven’t had a particularly great time of it in recent years although Envoi Allen did provide some respite for them by justifying his 2/1 SP in 2019.

The roll call of winners is dominated by horses who won last time out so it’s best to leave alone those that don’t head into the Festival on the back of a win. Horses who head into the race unbeaten are always massive players.

Fillies or mares can win if they are talented enough. Relegate and Fayonagh are both female winners in recent years.

Champion Bumper ante-post betting pointers

The Champion Bumper winner will often head to Cheltenham via one of the better bumper races in the calendar, the pick of which is arguably the Grade 2 Matheson Bumper at Leopardstown in February.

That contest was won by subsequent Champion Bumper winner Envoi Allen in 2019, while Abacadabras, who ran out at Leopardstown when still in with a chance, finishing a highly respectable fourth in the same Cheltenham contest.

Cheltenham, Ascot and Newbury all stage Listed bumpers that regularly throw up a Champion Bumper candidate, like Ballyandy who won good races at Cheltenham and Newbury en route to Festival glory in 2016. Runners who go to Cheltenham via any of those races are nearly always prominent in Champion Bumper betting.

The Champion Bumper winner will nearly always be one of the most interesting novice hurdlers the following year, although big-race targets depend on whether connections want to go up in trip or stick to around 2m.

If sticking to 2m, the Supreme Novices’ Hurdle is the obvious Festival race but beware, even the most impressive Champion Bumper winners have been turned over in the Supreme. Dunguib won the Champion Bumper like a superstar, but couldn’t justify an odds-on starting price in the Supreme 12 months later.

The stronger stayers could go up to 2m5f for the Baring Bingham Novices' Hurdle (known as the Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle). 1999 Champion Bumper winner Monsignor did that particular double, while The New One went on to win the 2013 Ballymore, despite having only finished sixth in the Champion Bumper 12 months earlier.

The New One is just one of a host of horses who couldn’t justify short Champion Bumper betting odds, but still went on to have stellar careers.

Champion Bumper history and memorable winners

In terms of dominance, few Champion Bumper winners have created the sort of impression as the one by Dunguib in 2009, who knocked the Cheltenham crowd’s eyes out when storming to a 10-length success under amateur rider Brian O’Connell.

Dunguib followed up in equally impressive fashion at Punchestown, but was later disqualified after a banned substance was found in a sample.

Dunguib’s career fizzled out rather prematurely but that certainly can’t be said about 2010 Champion Bumper winner Cue Card, who went on to have one of the most enduring careers of any National Hunt horse.

Cue Card was an 11-year-old when registering the last of his eight Grade 1 victories in a career that saw him elevated to a level of popularity rarely seen in the game.

Willie Mullins’ plethora of Champion Bumper winners include great horses like Florida Pearl, whose five-length success in 1997 was a precursor to a stellar chasing career that saw him win eight times at Grade 1 level.

Mullins-trained Champion Bumper candidates always require the most serious consideration in Champion Bumper betting.

The race has attracted some of the top Flat jockeys and Jamie Spencer’s rare foray into National Hunt racing brought about immediate dividends when he stepped in to partner Pizarro to victory in 2002. It was the only time Spencer rode the Edward O’Grady-trained five-year-old.

Champion Bumper 2020

Contenders for the Champion Bumper do not emerge until the National Hunt season gets underway, at which point the Champion Bumper betting market will begin to take shape as horses come out and impress in bumpers around the country and in Ireland.