Barry Connell was in typically bullish humour after he saw his William Munny make it two out of two in bumpers at Naas today.

The son of Westerner cruised up to market rivals Wingmen and Fleur In The Park inside the final furlong before quickening away from the latter to score by an impressive five lengths.

He doesn’t have an entry in the Champion Bumper but will now head to the Punchestown Festival equivalent, for which Connell believes he is the horse to beat.

“I was astonished the price this horse went off,” the winning trainer said. “They didn’t like him the first day when he went off 5/1 and they didn’t like him here when he was 13/2. I went through the race and thought the horse should have been even money favourite.

"He is an exceptional horse and he showed it in Navan. The horse he bet there was Willie’s Champion Bumper horse (C’est Ta Chance). They backed him like money was going out of fashion and they pulled 12 or 14 lengths clear. He is after improving from that and he’s hardly having a blow there, it was only a bit of work.

“He’s very unusual as a Westerner, they normally don’t win bumpers, they normally improve for jumping. He’s not a typical big Westerner, he’s more of a bumper horse. I’m definitely not taking him to Cheltenham.

“I normally don’t like giving them more than two runs in winners’ bumpers but I’m going to bring this fella to Punchestown for the Champion Bumper there and I think he’s the one to beat in it. In my view, he’s the best bumper horse in the country.”

Regarding the six-year-old’s longer term future, Connell added: “Next year you’d be hoping he’d be a Grade 1 horse over hurdles, why not? Maybe this wasn't the strongest of bumpers. Wingmen couldn’t win the way he pulled going around there, Andy Slattery’s horse is a fair yardstick, he was second in a listed race, but we’ve beat him more easily here. We’ll give him a break and head to Punchestown.”