A record number of entries have been made for the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival next week. The JP McManus-owned ante-post favourite Martinstown heads 58 entries for the £40,000 race. The five-year-old, who has won both of his starts to date, is among 30 Irish-trained hopefuls.
Willie Mullins, who is looking for a fifth success in the race, is responsible for 11 entries with recent winner Knocknabooly leading his team.
The John Kiely-trained Blazing Liss, who has won all three of her starts, Tom Cooper's stable star Total Enjoyment, and Edward O'Grady's pair Overbury Affair and Sidalcea, a half-sister to Best Mate, are others in a strong Irish-trained party.
Francois Doumen's Sandown winner Royal Paradise has real claims of posting a first French success, while the English challenge includes an unbeaten trio trained by Jonjo O'Neill - Manners, Millenaire and Refinement.
There are 71 engaged in the four-mile National Hunt Chase Challenge Cup, run next Wednesday. Rosslea, representing the Best Mate connections of owner Jim Lewis and trainer Henrietta Knight, is currently ante-post favourite for the amateur riders' event in which he will be ridden by Richard Burton.
Other notable entries include the Guillaume Macaire-trained Look Collonges, Silver Birch from Paul Nicholls' stable and some interesting entries from O'Neill, including Hawk's Landing, Native Emperor and World Wide Web.