BE careful when you get to the Champion Bumper at these pre-Cheltenham evenings, be careful that you don’t just figure out what is the best of the Irish and write that one down.

The Champion Bumper is not the Irish-fest that it once was. There have been 23 runnings of the Bumper now. The Irish won six of the first seven renewals and 14 of the first 17. However, the last six renewals have been shared, three for Ireland, three for Britain, and last year British-trained horses filled the first four places. There are bumper horses in Britain now too you know.

Lefties will improve

IF Killala Quay and Ericht can both win at Kempton when they spend all afternoon jumping to their left, by how much will they improve when they go back left-handed? They may be able to improve by more than the 3lb and 9lb respectively by which the handicapper has raised them.