Mullins saddles eight in bumper

Irish-trained horses have dominated the Weatherbys Champion Bumper and they again have an extremely strong presence at Cheltenham on Wednesday.

They have pocketed no less than 13 of the 16 runnings, with County Carlow trainer Willie Mullins bagging the race an incredible six times.

Mullins accounts for eight of the 24 horses declared this time.

"There's not much point talking about each one individually because I've said before that I think all of them deserve to be here in their own right," said the trainer.

"They are all as good as, if not better, than each of my previous winners of this race and I find it really hard to split them.

"Patrick (Mullins) is on Sicilian Secret, but he is another one of mine who didn't really have a straightforward journey over here.

"Ruby (Walsh) is on Quel Esprit, David Casey is on Gagewell Flyer and Paul Townend is on Meath All Star.

"That might give people some idea, but all of them have a chance.

"From the minute the starter calls them in, never mind the start of the race, the guys are trying to get a position.

"You've got a get a position and then hold it.

"It's going to be a tough race, there's no jumps to sort them up so from start to finish they'll be on top of one another and you need a lot of luck in running."