THE PRICEWISE VERDICT

TOM SEGAL

GIVEN that two of the last four winners of the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham have gone on to win the Ballymore the following season, Facile Vega has to be top of the list of novice hurdlers to follow.

He should have no trouble staying further and has plenty of options, as do any number of Willie Mullins-trained bumper horses from last season, with the likes of James’s Gate, Redemption Day and Hunters Yarn being the obvious ones.

Point-to-point winners Jet Powered and Deeply Superficial come with big reputations for the Nicky Henderson and Gordon Elliott yards, while I was hugely impressed by Kalanisi Star in the bumper previously won by Journey With Me and Bob Olinger at Gowran last season.

The Charlie Longsdontrained Rare Edition wasa closing second to Kalanisi Star in a point and won his bumper at Southwell easily, followed by a novice hurdle this month.