Bambino Fever another Cheltenham star for Jukebox Jury with Champion Bumper strike

Bambino Fever looked a star on a steep ascent when making light work of her rivals in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper. 

A fourth Grade 1 jumps winner for her sire, Jukebox Jury, and second Cheltenham Festival winner following Farclas's Triumph Hurdle strike in 2018, the chestnut maintained her unbeaten record in some style. 

The five-year-old was bred by Geoffrey Thompson out of the unraced Stowaway mare Midnight Way, a half-sister to Midnight Gift who is in turn the dam of Grade 1-winning novice hurdler and chaser Death Duty. 

Bambino Fever burst onto the scene when winning her sole point-to-point by a staggering 40 lengths at Stowlin last May for Nick Stokes. She went unsold at the Goffs Arkle Sale in 2023 for €30,000 but has revealed her talent in no uncertain terms since. 

The Willie Mullins mare won her Punchestown bumper by five lengths on New Year's Eve and followed up at the Dublin Racing Festival in Grade 2 company, pulling seven and a half lengths clear of the field. 

She continues to highlight her sire's excellence, with the Burgage Stud inmate responsible for other Grade 1 winners in Il Etait Temps and Stuke. His Group 1 winner on the Flat came in the form of the popular Princess Zoe, who struck in the 2020 Prix du Cadran for Tony Mullins.

Jukebox Jury: could have another star with his Champion Bumper heroineCredit: James Thomas

Bambino Fever was a second Grade 1 winner of the day for Stowaway as a damsire. The former Whytemount Stud resident's daughter Anno Whyte is the dam of Brown Advisory Novices' Chase scorer Lecky Watson.

Jukebox Jury, now 19, is standing for €12,500 this season. 

He has McLaurey in the County Hurdle and Argento Boy declared to run in the Albert Bartlett on Friday.

Doctor Dino, meanwhile, was off the mark for Cheltenham Festival week with Grand Annual winner Jazzy Matty, a previous winner at the meeting when landing the 2023 Fred Winter under the late Michael O'Sullivan. 

The Haras du Mesnil supersire was unlucky not to have had a second winner with State Man's final-hurdle fall in the Champion Hurdle on Tuesday.

Another French stalwart, Haras de Colleville's Galiway, registered a festival winner with easy Coral Cup scorer Jimmy Du Seuil. He had finished second to Ballyburn in last year's Gallagher Novices' Hurdle.

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