Irish Bumper Horses To Follow The Punchestown Festival is now in the books and that means that the National Hunt season has drawn to a close. The non-stop nature of racing means it will be business as usual with plenty of jumps action over the summer months, but the meat of the season won't begin until the Autumn once again. We're taking a look at some leading Irish bumper performers from recent months that seemingly have big futures ahead of them. Log-in to your Irish Racing account to add horses to your tracker Bambino Fever (Willie Mullins) The Jukebox Jury mare is the only starting point, having ended the season with a perfect four-from-four record in bumpers for the champion trainer, including wins at the Dublin Racing Festival, Cheltenham Festival and Punchestown. She struck up quite the partnership with Jody Townend through the spring months as they landed those major prizes, including Grade 1s on both sides of the Irish Sea. She races in the colours of the O'Connell Morgan Syndicate, with Declan O'Connell and Willie Morgan having picked her up at the Goff Sale in 2023. She is as short as 10/1 for the Supreme Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham next March and will be an exciting recruit to jumps for the Closutton team. Starting Fifteen (Eric McNamara) Limerick-based handler Eric McNamara saw Starting Fifteen run second in a Listed bumper at his local track in March on his Rules bow, beaten only by Light Up The Dark from the Joseph O'Brien operation as that rival remained unbeaten. The City Light gelding was pitched in at the deep end on his first appearance in public under any code. Having kept on steadily to take minor honours despite showing obvious signs of greenness, he went to the Punchestown Festival and showed improvement in finishing third in the Willie Coonan Memorial Flat Race. The well-backed Bud Fox won that race for Gavin Cromwell and Derek O'Connor, but Starting Fifteen travelled as well as anything into the contest and went with the eventual winner from the two-furlong marker in his quest to score. He perhaps paid for that very late on, ceding second spot to Celestial Tune, but it was a good effort nonetheless under Finian Maguire. He can build on that going forward and should have a future jumping hurdles next season. Future Prospect (Willie Mullins) Future Prospect won in good style at Fairyhouse in December under Patrick Mullins, but she looked quite free in doing so and that trait has let her down since. She was fifth behind Bambino Fever at the DRF and has come up shy since at Fairyhouse over Easter and Punchestown but she is paying a price for racing keenly in the early stages of her races. The Order Of St George is in the best hands at Closutton and it's likely that her schooling over hurdles will run in tandem with teaching her how to settle better in a race. She isn't one to write off, and once she gets the hang of things, she can graduate to better things over jumps. Kalypso'chance (Gordon Elliott) Kalypso'chance won bumpers at Punchestown and Navan before Christmas but was disappointing in his two major spring missions at Cheltenham and Punchestown, the only times we saw him after the New Year. He's owned by Gigginstown House Stud, and he earned high praise from Patrick Mullins, no less after he partnered him to the second of those bumper wins in December, which was an easy Listed win. He didn't get the best of trips at Cheltenham and his Punchestown run — both races won by Bambino Fever — was a contest in which he was too keen early on and Harry Swan let him come home in his own time once their chance was gone. The Masked Marvel gelding hasn't quite lived up to the initial hype in bumpers, but he'll be one to keep tabs on when he starts to jump. If you already have a bet365 account, check out more of the best betting sites and casino bonuses
