Champion Bumper: The Willie Mullins horse Ruby Walsh would choose to ride in 2022

Facile Vega or Redemption Day?

*Odds quoted on the widget are Future Racing / Antepost prices which means that if your selection does not run in the race for whatever reason – you will lose your stake under traditional Antepost rules

Willie Mullins has won the Champion Bumper a record 11 times and appears to have a strong hand in this season’s renewal.

The wonderfully bred Facile Vega made an impressive start to life on the track by winning the Leopardstown Flat Race by 6l on Boxing Day to climb to second in our Champion Bumper 2022 antepost market behind Gordon Elliott’s American Mike.

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Redemption Day also got off the mark at the first time of asking in the Midland Legal Solicitors Flat Race at Leopardstown on December 28 to settle in behind his stablemate in the early betting.

Our main man Ruby Walsh is the most successful jockey in Champion Bumper history, having ridden winners for Mullins in 1998, 2005 and 2013. Speaking on the latest episode of our From The Horse’s Mouth podcast, our resident jockey-turned-pundit revealed which of the trainer’s top prospects he would prefer to ride at this year’s Cheltenham Festival.

If they had never run, I would have ridden Redemption Day. After watching them run at Leopardstown, I would be riding Facile Vega.

Patrick Mullins never opened up Redemption Day and he won hard on the bridle but I loved the way Facile Vega started to gallop and the further he was going, the better he was going.

However, if you were watching them working at home it would have been Redemption Day.

Redemption Day wasn’t asked to do it on the clock. If Patrick had asked he would have found out but now he has to pick one and he’s still in the dark too.

*All prices are bang up to date with our snazzy widgets, while odds in copy are accurate at time of publishing but subject to change

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