Race & Stay At Punchestown Champion Bumper (Grade 1)

AMATEUR Josh Halford was in dreamland after a late call-up yielded a winner on his first ride in Grade 1 company, as the promising With Nolimit readily reversed Cheltenham form with The Mourne Rambler to win the Race & Stay At Punchestown Champion Bumper.

Gordon Elliott has been trying to build his team from the ground up with smart young stock, and this result - matching his career best of 12 Grade 1s in a single season - demonstrated the type of horses he has coming through the ranks.

Gigginstown’s 14/1 shot, a £250,000 purchase out of Jonathan Fogarty’s from the 2025 Goffs Aintree Sale, had only narrowly been touched off in an Elliott 1-2-3 at the Dublin Racing Festival before finishing ninth at Cheltenham, though only beaten a handful of lengths. That experience stood to him coming here, finding generously for his 20-year-old rider’s urgings and finishing a length and three quarters clear of the staying-on Cheltenham winner in second.

The Mourne Rambler, sent off the 11/8 favourite under Declan Lavery, travelled strongly from well off the pace but wasn’t able to stamp his authority on the race late and could only stay on past Cheltenham fourth Boycetown in the closing stages.

The winner is now 25/1 for both the Supreme and Turners Novices’ Hurdle at Prestbury Park next season.

Halford, an international showjumping rider for Ireland growing up and son of former Group 1-winning trainer Mick, was standing in for the sidelined Barry O'Neill and said: "If you didn’t get a big kick out of this, you wouldn’t be human. It doesn’t get much better than this. I only found out I was riding the horse this morning and it’s probably just as well that it happened like that, because I wouldn’t have slept for the last two days otherwise! This means the world.

“He clipped a heel going by the stands the first time and I thought it was over. He settled away, though, got into a lovely rhythm and I was never in doubt then. I always felt like I was on the best horse in the race. He’s a smashing horse. I can’t thank Gordon enough. When I first started, I had a lot of improving to do but he’s backed me and been so good to me. If you told me I’d ride a Grade 1 winner for Gordon Elliott, I wouldn’t believe it.

“I also have to say thanks to mam and dad. It’s a shame they’re not here today because they’re around for every other race. I owe everything to them.”

Elliott added: “To be fair, he ran a good race in Cheltenham; he might have just done a little bit much. I probably gave Harry Swan the wrong instructions. We took our time with him a bit more today. All credit to Josh, he gave him a great ride.

“Barry O’Neill was supposed to ride him but he got a fall. I spoke to him when he was going to the hospital and he thought he’d be okay. Those boys are made of steel. We were never going to be using anybody but Josh if Barry couldn’t ride. The only reason that Josh wasn’t riding him was that he was 7lb wrong with no claim.”

Beaten reaction

Noel Meade, trainer of The Mourne Rambler (second)

“He ran well. He was probably a bit free early, which I’d say was more of a problem than anything else. I’d need to see it again, but he pulled for the first three furlongs and then when they started to roll down the hill, and he took him out of it. I don’t know, I’d like to watch it back because there seemed to be two or three different races in one race. Then he ran on when you’d think he was beaten. As I said before, the one thing I had in my mind was how he was readied up for his point-to-point [on October 11th], then he came to me, won at Christmas, won at Cheltenham - it’s a long year. I’m excited to go hurdling next season; he’s still one of the top bumper horses about, isn’t he? He’ll go for a break now and he might have a flat run after that, we’ll see.”