Three outsiders who warrant each-way Cheltenham consideration
Jasmin De Vaux goes in the Albert Bartlett Novice Hurdle at Cheltenham on Friday. Pic: ©INPHO/Tom Maher
Given his hurdling form to date and, particularly, his jumping has left something to desire, it would be very easy to overlook Jasmin De Vaux this week. However, last season’s Champion Bumper success showed he has class in abundance, and with the step up to three miles for the Albert Bartlett Novices’ Hurdle certain to play to his strengths, he has strong each-way claims at double-figure odds.
On his hurdling debut, in early December, he overcame a poor round of jumping to win a maiden from which the second and third both subsequently won a Leopardstown Maiden at the Christmas meeting.
He didn’t jump well enough to cope with the step up to Grade One company for his second start but fared quite a bit better when fourth behind stablemate Final Demand in the two-mile-six Grade One at the Dublin Racing Festival, doing his best work in the closing stages.
With that extra experience and the extra couple of furlongs of this race, he can but improve and has strong claims in what is the weakest of the three all-age novice Grade One hurdles.
A nine-year-old who has run on the turf, the all-weather, in bumpers, hurdles, and chases, San Salvador would hardly stand out as a prospect for any Cheltenham Festival, but there is something compelling about his profile which suggests he could outrun his odds.
He is trained by Joseph O’Brien, which, in itself, is reason enough to give him a second glance, but it is his chase form at Cheltenham which helps to give gravitas to his claims. After winning a Grade Three in Roscommon, he went to the Cotswolds to contest a four-runner chase. While he finished last of the quartet, he was all but in line with the other three as they jumped the last and ran particularly well considering it turned into something of a sprint.
Back on his travels to Prestbury Park for his next start, he contested a Grade Two won by Arkle second-favourite L’Eau du Sud and he travelled just as strongly as the winner until the turn for home. He didn’t pick up well enough to be a danger to the runaway winner but an early mistake and a lesser one late on didn’t help his cause.
A faller at the Dublin Racing Festival, he prepped for this meeting with a runaway success on the all-weather at Dundalk. Stepping up to two and a half miles for the first time over fences, he looks quite well handicapped of his mark of 139 and while it is likely he will find some younger legs too sharp for him, he has each-way claims at huge odds.
Like most of the hurdles participating this week, Bunting has more than one entry, and whichever engagement he chooses to take up, he is worth considering at big odds.
A winner of his only outing on the Flat in France, he made an immediate impact over hurdles when winning on debut for Willie Mullins. That was on St Stephen’s Day, 2023, at Limerick. He then turned up in the Grade One at the Dublin Racing Festival, where he finished a close fourth to stablemate Kargese, and seventh behind Majborough in the Triumph Hurdle on his next start.
A shade below that in Punchestown and on the Flat in Killarney, he made his comeback in mid-January at Clonmel and would likely have won but for stumbling and almost unseating his rider three from home.
With just seven career runs, five of which were over hurdles, he has plenty of scope for improvement, and while all of his form to date is on testing ground, his breeding suggests better ground could be more suitable. A good jumper with plenty of class, he looks capable of exploiting his current mark of 139 and, with luck in running a big field, he could do more than just reach the frame.
