Willie Mullins has farmed the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival in recent years and looks to rely on five horses from a total entry of 36 possibles for the two-mile contest.
The Closutton handler rode and trained Wither Or Witch to success in this race in 1996 with Florida Pearl (1997) and Alexander Banquet (1998), Missed That (2005), Cousin Vinny (2008), Supreme Novices’ winner Champagne Fever (2012) and Briar Hill (2013) have all won the Grade One contest, highlighting Mullins’ superiority in this race.
With ante-post favourite Getabird ruled out of the race, imposing grey Carter McKay looks set to spearhead Mullins’ charge this year. The six-year-old son of Martaline won a point-to-point at Ballynoe in April 2016 and has looked impressive in two victories so far this term, which included a decisive two and a quarter-length victory at Naas last time in which he defeated Joseph O’Brien’s smart performer West Coast Time.
Carter McKay is owned by Pearl Bloodstock Ltd, part of wealthy Qatari Sheikh Farhad’s portfolio, who has pumped millions into British flat racing.
Mullins commenting on his Champion Bumper Battalion, said:
Carter McKay goes there, Ballyward pulled a muscle the other day, so we’ll see how that comes out. Next Destination goes there and I’ve entered the two fillies Red Hot Filly Peppers and Mystic Theatre, so we’ll see what happens.
Carter McKay could look the one on his form the last day. He’d been doing nice work at home before Naas and his performance was better than I hoped, but you don’t go expecting performances like that. That performance would compare to anything. A horse that can win around Naas doing that is a fair machine.
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