Title leader Brian Hughes to partner Champion Bumper fancy Panic Attack

Jockeys' championship leader Brian Hughes will partner a major fancy for the Weatherbys Champion Bumper after picking up the ride on the exciting Panic Attack.

Hughes leads Richard Johnson by 19 in his bid to win a first title and will be on board the David Pipe hope, who is a general 8-1 chance for Wednesday's Grade 1 event after making an eyecatching winning debut in a Listed contest at Market Rasen in January.

Panic Attack briefly headed the betting for the festival Grade 1 after her ten-length victory when formerly with Willie Mullins. She has since switched to Pipe’s Pond House stable after Bryan Drew struck a deal to acquire the four-year-old.

Pipe will also saddle Israel Champ – with Tom Scudamore riding –but believes Panic Attack's filly's allowance could prove to be a big factor next week.

Brian Hughes (left) and Richard Johnson: fighting it out for the jockeys' titleCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

"She gets 15lb weight allowance off the boys – that’s a lot,” he said. “It’s probably never ideal swapping yards mid-season but she seems to be fairly straightforward and has settled in well."

Pipe added: "I saw her when she won at Market Rasen, I was very impressed with her and thought she was a danger in the [Champion] Bumper. That evening I got a phone call from Bryan Drew saying that he was looking to buy her. She’s a lovely addition to the yard and a horse for the future."

Things might have turned out differently had plans originally set out by Mullins come to fruition.

Pipe explained: "They were going to run her in the Cheltenham November bumper but she got balloted out and went back to Ireland. Then she came back over to Market Rasen. It looked a solid race and she won it without coming off the bridle."

Pipe's other bumper runner, Israel Champ, landed a Listed bumper at Cheltenham in November and struck again at the same level at Ascot the following month. Leading bloodstock agent Tom Malone believes he is the pick of the home challenge.

Malone, who featured alongside Henrietta Knight on Racing Post Bloodstock's new podcast Top Lot, said: "Israel Champ is a monster. He won his point-to-point by 12 lengths, won around Cheltenham and Ascot and is the best of the English by a long way."

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