IT came with its fair share of twists and turns, but what a window of racing we’ve just emerged from over the festive period.

Galopin Des Champs, Sir Gino and Brighterdaysahead led the way on the equine superstar performance front, while Joseph O’Brien, who is operating with reduced National Hunt numbers nowadays, deserves massive kudos for his Christmas exploits. Four winners in as many days, including three at Grade 1 level and a top-level runner-up at Limerick, can be viewed as a magnificent week’s work.

There were considerable clues in most National Hunt divisions and these are discussed in detail by some of our other columnists in this week’s paper.

However, one category that still looks as murky as ever is the 2024/’25 crop of bumper horses. The division of youngsters was crying out for something to emerge over Christmas as a standout candidate for the Weatherbys Champion Bumper, yet the scene looks as open as ever.

As it stands, there are only two horses at single-figure prices for the Cheltenham Festival Grade 1, one who started off in a British point-to-point and another who was beaten in a bumper at Ballinrobe in September. Not typical notes on a Champion Bumper-winning profile.

However, Kalypso’chance, who Gordon Elliott and Gigginstown House Stud sourced for £85,000 after winning between the flags in Northumberland, has made an impressive start to life on these shores and struck in a listed bumper with a rich history at Navan last time. That is probably the standout bumper performance in Ireland so far this season.

Flynn graduate

The Masked Marvel five-year-old is a top-priced 7/1 chance for Festival honours, while most firms have Windbeneathmywings as favourite or joint-favourite for the same race (priced between 6/1 and 8/1).

While he looked a capable sort when winning bumpers at Cork and Listowel for Pat Flynn in July and September (second at Ballinrobe in the interim), he wouldn’t have been viewed as a truly serious Champion Bumper player by most until blowing away his rivals in a listed bumper at Ascot last month on debut for David Pipe.

According to Racing Post Ratings (RPRs), that performance, which earned a mark of 130 with that handicapping team, was the equal of what Kalypso’chance produced at Navan. The next-best bumper performance in either Britain or Ireland this season, as per RPRs, was Koktail Brut’s Fairyhouse Winter Festival victory, when achieving a rating of 123. However, the Elliott-trained youngster has since blotted his copybook when fourth of five in a tactical bumper that brought the curtain down on the Leopardstown Christmas Festival.

Next in the RPR standings, also on 123, is Sortudo - second at Leopardstown in that same bumper as Koktail Brut - then Gavin Cromwell’s The Passing Wife (122), who has too many runs to be eligible for the Cheltenham contest. He is followed in the table by Classical Creek, last seen finishing third to stablemate Kalypso’chance at Navan, and is one of six horses in Britain or Ireland to have run to a peak RPR of 120 in a bumper this season.

Of the remaining five, Ira Hayes (trained by John McConnell) won a Cartmel maiden hurdle since so therefore is ineligible for the Champion Bumper, while Heads Up (also John McConnell) has already run four times in bumpers, meaning he can’t compete in the Champion either. Ellen Kelly (Willie Mullins) won impressively in bumpers at Sligo and Killarney, but hasn’t been seen since July, while the final two are commanding Fairyhouse scorer Future Prospect (Willie Mullins) and Cheltenham November Meeting winner Fortune De Mer (Dan Sketon).

Christmas uncertainty

Across the four days of Leopardstown Christmas Festival bumpers, the winning margins were quite tight: three-quarters of a length (twice) and a length and a quarter (also twice). It didn’t suggest any hugely dominant performance, for all that there were smart displays from Green Splendour, Karate Kid, Kovanis and Carrigmoornaspruce.

In summary, barring two standout bumper performances of the season so far (one coming from a horse who has already been beaten), there is a distinct lack of clarity in the Champion Bumper pecking order as it stands.

Willie Mullins had a much more challenging Christmas than many expected, with a host of big-name defeats on both sides of the Irish Sea, and he hasn’t got rolling fully with his typical firepower in winter bumpers. That could be an element in the picture looking blurry. We’ve also not had the testing winter ground for most of the past month or so that you would typically expect. That could have held up some connections from running their top performers.

However, it must be said that for the last 10 Champion Bumpers, we had already seen 21 of the 30 horses to fill the first three places at Cheltenham by this stage of the season. Essentially, 70 per cent of the placed runners in the last decade of Cheltenham Festival bumpers had run under rules by now.

Christmas has brought plenty of clues before. For example, Facile Vega stuck his hand up for Champion honours at the 2022 Leopardstown Christmas Festival and duly followed up at Prestbury Park, while, in the last decade, others were placed in the Grade 1 after appearing over the festive period in Ireland like Appreciate It, Fact To File, Carefully Selected, Bacardys and Jalon D’oudairies.

Overall, 25 of those 30 runners won on their track debut, and 20 went there with unbeaten records under rules. In a typical campaign, you would expect more clarity at this stage.

Chances are, statistically speaking, that we’ve already seen the 2025 Weatherbys Champion Bumper winner come home in front on the track, but I’m personally not convinced.

Watch for Kate

If there is one mare who might be a little underestimated by the bare rating of what she achieved when winning on her sole start at the Listowel Harvest Festival, it’s the Tom Cooper-trained Amen Kate (RPR 109). Bred in the purple as a daughter of Flemensfirth and Grade 1 winner Augusta Kate, she won the same bumper as her dam in Co Kerry and created a big impression.

That display was no surprise either, considering the post-race comments of her trainer, who said: “She’s a very racey mare and did a bit of work up the Old Vic over a week ago - it was awesome.”

What’s more, Carrigmoornaspruce, who finished seven and a half lengths adrift in second, followed up a Naas bumper win by scorching home to beat the boys at Leopardstown over Christmas, while the third, Amboyna, won a Tramore bumper by eight and a half lengths next time.

One would imagine she could be aimed at the Grade 2 Coolmore N.H. Sires Hurricane Lane Irish EBF Mares Bumper at the Dublin Racing Festival, and her current Cheltenham price of 16/1 could be much smaller after that.

All considered, though, it really feels as though assessing the Champion Bumper picture right now is like trying to solve a jigsaw without having all the pieces. Willie Mullins didn’t unleash last year’s winner Jasmin De Vaux until January 28th 2024, and it would be no surprise if similar unfolded in 2025.

6/1 Kalypso’chance

7/1 Windbeneathmywings

14/1 Future Prospect

16/1 Amen Kate, No Drama This End, He Can’t Dance

20/1 Kovanis, Scope To Improve, Classical Creek

25/1 Fortune De Mer, Full Confession, Green Splendour, Theflyingking

33/1 Blue Velvet, Dalston Lad, Eclipse Chaser, Global Submission, Koktail Brut

*Odds correct from Ladbrokes as of 1 January 2025