Vega looks mega for Mullins

Robbie Wilders focuses mainly on last season’s top bumper performers to find the potential stars in a fascinating division

ITISbesttotargetthe previous campaign’s bumpers when attempting to pinpoint novice hurdling stars at this stage, given that nobody had even heard of last season’s champion Constitution Hill at this time last year.

Nicky Henderson’s superstar did not make his rules debut until December but quickly caught the imagination with a couple of breathtaking Grade 1 successes in the Tolworth at Sandown and the Supreme at the Cheltenham Festival.

Another two-time Grade 1-winning novice, The Nice Guy, did not appear until winning a bumper last November.

We can only concentrate on the form in the book and the Champion Bumper is usually the best trial for the following season’s leading novice hurdles.

Ireland were responsible for the first four home at Cheltenham and the six top bumper performers on Racing Post Ratings in 2021-22 were Irish-trained.

Willie Mullins handles four of those and he is regularly the strongest force in the novice department. The future looks bright for the Closutton trainer again and dual Grade 1 bumper scorer Facile Vega captains a powerful team with

Redemption Day not far behind.

Gordon Elliott is another training powerhouse who has top prospects in Champion Bumper second American Mike and Punchestown winner Absolute Notions, while Lookaway is arguably the leading British challenger at this juncture.

Neil King has been enthusiastic in his praise for his Grade 2 Aintree bumper winner and rightly so.

Facile Vega

Five-year-old bay gelding

Trainer Willie Mullins

Bumper form 111-1 (best RPR 141)

Left-handed 111 (141)

Right-handed 1 (141)

Facile Vega had near impossible shoes to fill as his dam scored at an incredible six Cheltenham Festivals for the same connections, but the apple never falls far from the tree and Quevega’s son scaled outstanding heights in his first season.

The five-year-old stands alone as the highest-rated bumper performer from last season after he followed a Grade 2 success at the Dublin Racing Festival with top-level strikes at Cheltenham and Punchestown.

Quevega stayed three miles and there is no reason why Facile Vega cannot follow suit, but there is little requirement to step up in trip at this stage.

He looks capable of reaching the top of the hurdling tree over whichever distance connections decide to campaign him, and the fact he has scored on a range of different ground conditions is a big plus.

✪✪✪✪✪ Redemption Day

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Trainer Willie Mullins

Bumper form 10-2 (140)

LH 10 (124) RH 2 (140)

Just 1lb behind Facile Vega on RPRs and is less experienced after one start fewer in bumpers. It is perfectly feasible he could usurp his stablemate now that they go over hurdles.

The pair enjoyed a real scrap when filling the first two positions in the Champion Bumper at the Punchestown festival, pulling miles clear of the third.

Redemption Day seemed to be outbattled by Facile Vega that day and may be best kept to two miles at this stage in his career but, regardless, that was a major improvement on his down-the-field effort in Cheltenham’s Champion Bumper on his previous outing. A combination of inexperience and heavy ground surely found him out there.

Owner Tim O’Driscoll has never captured a Grade 1 over jumps and hopes will be high Redemption Day can scratch that itch.

✪✪✪✪✪ Lookaway

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Trainer Neil King

Bumper form 11 (127)

LH 11 (127) RH –

It is rare for a trainer outside the elite to feature in a horses to follow segment for the jumps season but Neil King deserves his position among the powerhouses courtesy of Lookaway, who is just about the best British bumper graduate.

An impressive two-length winner of the Grade 2 Aintree bumper won by subsequent Grade 1 scorers The New One, Barters Hill, Bacardys and Lalor in the last decade, Lookaway travelled powerfully throughout and put the race to bed in the manner of a top-class youngster.

King has already labelled Lookaway as potentially the best he has trained, despite the fact he saddled Lil Rockerfeller to finish second in a couple of Grade 1 staying hurdles a few years ago, and the five-year-old could make serious hay in this division.

Lookaway is expected to commence his hurdling career over two miles and races like the Tolworth should be on his mid-season agenda.

✪✪✪✪✪ Il Etait Temps 4 gr g

Trainer Willie Mullins

Form 5/235-4 (140)

LH 35 (140) RH 5/2-4 (127)

We must also pay close attention to second-season novices and none fits the bill better than Il Etait Temps.

Il Etait Temps was thrown into the deep end on his first start for Willie Mullins when running a cracker to finish third at odds of 40-1 in the Spring Juvenile Hurdle at the Dublin Racing Festival behind Vauban.

While he regressed in the Cheltenham and Punchestown juvenile equivalents, it is too soon to give up on this talented but free-going four-year-old.

He will be a superior model for another year on his back and once he learns to settle and jump more efficiently.

It is worth noting Mullins did something similar with Let’s Dance a few years ago. She was beaten in the same three Grade 1 contests as Il Etait Temps before going on a five-race winning spree that culminated in a Cheltenham Festival success in the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle.

✪✪✪✪✪ American Mike 5bg

Trainer Gordon Elliott Bumper form 112-3 (135)

LH 12 (135) RH 1-3 (126)

The RPR handed to American

Mike for his Champion Bumper second to Facile Vega was the third-best figure all season in that discipline and he remains an exciting prospect despite twice being beaten by the Mullins ace.

While he clearly regressed on his Cheltenham effort at Punchestown, where Redemption Day managed to reverse the form, he may have been over the top at the end of his first season and is worth another chance to justify his lofty reputation for Gordon Elliott.

American Mike has a stamina-laden pedigree. His dam was third and fourth in two Irish Nationals and he is well worth a try at two and a half miles. That could be where we see the best of him this season and he remains Elliott’s best prospect for novice hurdles.

✪✪✪✪✪ Absolute Notions 4bg

Trainer Gordon Elliott Bumper form 1 (119)

LH – RH 1 (119)

The Goffs Land Rover Bumper at Punchestown is always a warm heat and Absolute Notions picked last season’s running apart by six and a half lengths.

Recent winners of the prestigious event include the classy Petit Mouchoir, Commander Of Fleet and Vision Des Flos, and Absolute Notions is clearly open to any amount of improvement after just one run.

Bumpers at the major festivals are seldom won so easily and a big performance was clearly not expected of Absolute Notions as he was sent off a 25-1 chance that day and the outsider of Gordon Elliott’s four runners.

He was held up and veered to the right when taking the lead, so will be better once he learns to race, and his pedigree and racing style give the impression he will stay a good bit further than two miles.

✪✪✪✪✪ Marine Nationale

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Trainer Barry Connell

Bumper form 11 (127)

LH 1 (127) RH 1 (116)

It is not just the previous season’s bumpers that are worth assessing as ownertrainer Barry Connell might have unearthed a real gem recently in Marine Nationale.

The strapping five-year-old made a winning debut over hurdles at Punchestown last week having been two from two in bumpers over the summer.

The RPR of 127 he achieved with a convincing bumper win at Killarney in August would have put him in the top ten for last term’s performers and he was a ready winner of a Punchestown bumper on his debut from highly regarded Gordon Elliott runner Demandrivingdouvan.

His trainer is reportedly aiming him at the Grade 1 Royal Bond this winter and dreaming of the Dublin Racing Festival and the Cheltenham Festival beyond that.

Connell has enjoyed many top-level winners as an owner but none yet as a trainer, and Marine Nationale rates the most naturally gifted horse he has handled. ✪✪✪✪✪