Champion Bumper Trends For The 2025 Cheltenham Festival

2025 Cheltenham Champion Bumper Trends

The last 10 winners:

• Won last time out - that includes all bar four placed finishers too
• If they had run at Cheltenham before, they had won
• Had finished in the first three on a left-handed track, nine had won
• Had won on a track described as 'galloping' or 'undulating'
• Were aged five or six; four-year-olds are 0/22 in the last 10 years

Nine of the last 10 winners:

• Last ran at least 32 days ago (exception Ferny Hollow, 18 days)
• Had run in at least two bumpers (Jasmin De Vaux ran once)
• Had never finished out of the first three (Fayonagh, eighth on debut)

Eight of the last 10 winners:

• Had run on both left-handed and right-handed tracks (Facile Vega, Jasmin De Vaux)
• Were trained in Ireland, including the last seven. Horses trained in Ireland have won 24 of this race's 32 renewals.
• Won at single figure odds (Relegate 25/1, Ferny Hollow 11/1)

Key Trials in the Last 10 Years

The Cheltenham Champion Bumper winner can come from anywhere at all, as long as they are good enough, so keep an eye on all decent bumpers run in January and February on left-handed, testing courses; particularly Leopardstown, Cheltenham, and Newbury, but also right-handed tracks such as Ascot and Fairyhouse.

One race to watch out for in particular is the Listed bumper at Navan in December as Gordon Elliott trained the winner of that in 2019 and 2020 and both went on to win the following year's Champion Bumper. He also saddled the winner in 2021, who finished second at Cheltenham.

Elliott also won the Listed Navan bumper race in 2015, 2016 and 2017 and saddled the runner-up in 2019. His 2016 winner was the mighty Samcro. Kalypso'chance won the race for Elliott in 2024.

Trainer Trends

• Willie Mullins has won 13 Champion Bumpers and five of the last seven. As ever, he appears to have a strong hand in 2025.
• Gordon Elliott is becoming a big player too. From 14 runners, he's saddled two winners, two seconds and two thirds.
• Irish trainers have a tremendous record in this race on the whole, winning 23 times in the race's 32-year history. 

Jockey Trends

• Amateur riders based in Ireland have won five of the last seven editions.
• Jamie Codd had only had four rides in the race in his career, all for Gordon Elliott, but they yielded two wins, a second and a third. Following his retirement, Harry Swan looks to be picking up the plum Elliott bumper rides.

How did the trends do last year?

Jasmin De Vaux slipped under the radar last year from a trends perspective. Had had run just once prior to Cheltenham so was lacking the same experience as previous winners of the race. 

The trends very much pointed towards Jalon D'oudairies for Gordon Elliott. Unbeaten in two runs, including one of the big trials at Leopardstown, he was sent off 3/1 favourite and managed to finish third.

2024 Cheltenham Champion Bumper Result

Who Fits The Trends Best In 2025?

The majority of the field in this year's Champion Bumper will have won their previous race and will be aged either five or six, so we'll need to go a little deeper into the trends to find the winner. 

Gameofinches shot to the top of the Champion Bumper betting after winning at Punchestown in February. If he's to follow up at the Cheltenham Festival, he'll be bucking some major trends. With just one run under his belt, he lacks the required experience. Though stablemate Jasmin De Vaux was successful in this race last year with a similar prep. 

It's best to rule out the likes of No Drama This End and Windbeneathmywings. Being trained in the UK, they're up against it, if previous Champion Bumpers are anything to go by. 

Gordon Elliott has a tremendous record in this race, and has a solid chance with Kalypso'chance. He's a five-year-old who's won both left and right-handed. The listed bumper he won at Navan in December is often a good pointer for this race. There aren't any trends that knock his chances, and he could be the one to be with at a single-figure price.