{"id":38857,"date":"2025-03-09T12:48:47","date_gmt":"2025-03-09T12:48:47","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/?p=38857"},"modified":"2025-03-09T15:48:38","modified_gmt":"2025-03-09T15:48:38","slug":"how-many-times-has-willie-mullins-won-the-champion-bumper","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sportscasting.com\/uk\/news\/how-many-times-has-willie-mullins-won-the-champion-bumper\/","title":{"rendered":"How many times has Willie Mullins won the Champion Bumper?"},"content":{"rendered":"

As usual, Willie Mullins has a very strong hand in this year’s Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival – but how many times has he won the race?<\/strong><\/p>\n

Mullins is the reigning Cheltenham Festival top trainer<\/a> and the Champion Bumper is a race he’s dominated over the years since its introduction in 1992.<\/p>\n

It’s a flat race contested over 2m \u00bdf on the old course – known as a ‘bumper’ – which is designed for horses who have not previously ran on the flat to gain experience before going over obstacles.<\/p>\n

Bumpers are usually the last race on the card, which is the case on day two of the Cheltenham Festival<\/a> on Wednesday.<\/p>\n

The Champion Bumper is the most prestigious of its kind in jump racing, open to horses between the ages of four and six who have ran maximum three times in National Hunt flat races.<\/p>\n

Willie Mullins is the most successful trainer in Champion Bumper history with 13 winners<\/h2>\n

No trainer has enjoyed more success in the Champion Bumper than Mullins, who has won the race an incredible 13 times.<\/p>\n

Mullins often runs a handful of horses in the race and the market doesn’t always get it right, with plenty of big priced winners coming from the Closutton yard.<\/p>\n

Five of his last eight winners include Cousin Vinny (2008, 12\/1), Champagne Fever (2012, 16\/1), Briar Hill (2013, 25\/1), Relegate (2018, 25\/1) and Ferny Hollow (2020, 11\/1).<\/p>\n

Willie Mullins trained and rode his first Champion Bumper winner<\/h2>\n

Mullins won the race for the first time in 1996 with a horse called Wither Or Which, who went on to finish fifth in the 1999 Supreme Novices’ Hurdle.<\/p>\n

In a particularly unique case – Mullins himself steered the horse to victory as its trainer too!<\/p>\n

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Willie Mullins trained and took the ride on Wither Or Which in the 1996 Champion Bumper<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Willie’s son Patrick rode his father’s 100th Cheltenham Festival winner in the 2024 Champion Bumper<\/h3>\n

Patrick Mullins saddled Jasmin De Vaux to victory in the 2024 Champion Bumper, marking a century of winners at the Cheltenham Festival for his father Willie.<\/p>\n