Johnny Ward / 31 January 2010 Free Bet View Market

"The one that interests me is Forty Foot Tom, who sluiced up on his debut, admittedly in very testing ground, at Navan. Not Before Eight, who finished a remote third, is useful enough so the form has some substance."

The Champion Bumper is something of a lottery at this stage, with the Irish horses predictably monopolising the market, albeit few of them trained by WP Mullins. Brother Tom saddles Tavern Times (13), who was supposed to run in a winners' bumper over Christmas.

Because he did not, punters are left to ruminate over what he achieved in overcoming a messy passage to accord with very strong market support on his debut. Like Dunguib a son of Presenting, Tavern Times did what was required but the form is not altogether striking. Expect Davy Russell - whose father part-owns him - to ride the gelding at Cheltenham.

Whatever about speculating with regard to Tavern Times' form, it is harder again to assess the ability of Hidden Universe. Dermot Weld also has antepost jolly Elegant Concorde for the bumper but is quoted as saying that he would not be happy to saddle the two of them at Cheltenham.

Clearly that is a massive worry. One imagines whatever skips Cheltenham will run at Punchestown, like Universal Truth last year; interestingly, Weld sees Hidden Universe as a summer flat prospect so clearly neither ground nor a slow gallop should bother the gelding at Cheltenham. He is likely to run in the mean time.

The one that interests me is Forty Foot Tom, who sluiced up on his debut, admittedly in very testing ground, at Navan. Not Before Eight, who finished a remote third, is useful enough so the form has some substance.

Cheltenham will offer a different test to Forty Foot Tom, but his full brother (Frisco Depot) was second first-time out on good to yielding ground for Dessie Hughes last year so he has prospects of being versatile regarding conditions. Danny Miley is a very capable handler and if Willie Mullins trained him, he would be outright favourite, rather than the [22.0] available on Betfair.