Dunguib: bumper star and top novice hurdler for whom it all went wrong
The 2009 Cheltenham Festival took place against the backdrop of a fast-developing Irish economic crisis. National morale was in retreat.
Yet Irish punters headed across the water with habitual optimism. Hopes were particularly high for the Champion Bumper.
Race-specialist Willie Mullins supplied eight of the 24 runners, although the market was dominated by two other Irish runners, the Dermot Weld-trained Rite Of Passage, an unbeaten winner of bumpers at Galway the previous August and at Naas in February, and Dunguib, successful in two of his three starts.
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Published on 14 February 2018inFeatures
Last updated 14:23, 14 February 2018
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