Mullins To Land Third Consecutive Bumper

With five winners having returned at 12/1, 16/1, 14/1, 33/1 and 14/1 in the last seven years alone, Tuesday’s Goffs Land Rover Bumper (6.05) at Punchestown on Tuesday evening will have punters licking their lips at the prospect of finding a juicy priced winner.

Another Big-Priced Mullins Winner?
Amazingly, two of those big prices came via Willie Mullins, who won this race four times in the last 10 years, including the last two renewals. It’s a fact that backers will need to take into consideration before placing their wagers, as the master handler looks to have a couple of interesting runners lined-up in his hat-trick bid.

Both runners are unraced to date – as were two of Mullins’ four previous winners of this – with the 4yo, Clinton Hill, a full brother to a placed bumper runner, while St Stephens Green’s dam was a 1m6f winner.

Elsewhere, Thomas Mullins won the race in 2012 with an unraced 4yo, and has a similar type in Phar Isalnd, who is related to a number of winners and could be interesting.

Don’t Forget Meade
Noel Meade also won this with an unraced 5yo in 2011, and has a couple of 4yo’s lined-up this time around in Clay Allison and Red Giant. Of the pair, Clay Allison has good breeding lines as his dam was a 2m4f bumper winner.

The Brits last won this race in 2005 courtesy of Nicky Henderson, who sends over his 4yo, Fell Runner, while Jonjo O’Neill has the 4yo’s, Glory For Rory and Set In My Ways.

Form In The Book
But, for punters preferring to put their money on a horse with form in the book, then the Cheltenham World Hurdle wining trainer, Warren Greatrex, sends over his 5yo, Bon Enfant, who made a winning debut at Wincanton earlier this month (2m, good). His action that day suggested more juice in the ground would suit, so any rain could bring improvement.

Aidan O’Brien has a rare runner at the festival in his 4yo, Tesseract, who kept on into sixth in his debut at Fairyhouse several weeks ago and will know more this time around.

Harrington Back For More
It’s also worth noting Jessica Harrington’s, Twinkletoes, as her trainer sent out an amazing six-winner haul at this fixture 12 months ago. While lightning may not strike twice, Harrington did win this race in 2009, and her filly is related to a couple of winners.

Policy Breach is another who could go off at big odds having shown promise when keeping on into fifth in a Leopardstown bumper in February (2m, soft), while a word has to go to Henry De Bromhead’s 5yo, Zagelle. Just one of three 5yo’s entered in this year’s renewal, yet 5yo’s did win two of the last four runnings of this race.

Recommended Bets

Not the easiest race for punters to weigh-up, as a number of the runners have yet to see the track. One policy could be to follow Willie Mullins in his quest for a fifth winner since 2006, where Clinton Hill is by the sire, Flemensfirth, whose runners have performed well at this track down the years.

*Prices correct at time of publication.