Cheltenham 2025: Is this 20/1 shot Willie Mullins’ top novice hurdler?

Before the rest of the stable tours and before any entries are made, there's a Willie Mullins-trained novice hurdler I'm eager to write into the book for Cheltenham 2025.

I fancy this one could be right at the top of the pecking order at Closutton and his current price might not be around for long.

Just like Ballyburn last year, I wonder if the horse that will prove Willie Mullins' best novice hurdler come the end of the season wasn't seen in the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival?

Jasmin De Vaux was a fairly impressive winner of that race in March, but I think we saw something special in KOPEK DES BORDES exactly 18 days later.

Bought for €130k as a store, the four-year-old son of No Risk At All won the lucrative George Mernagh Memorial Sales Bumper by a widening 13 lengths, barely breaking a sweat in the process.

It was a serious performance, especially as it was his racecourse debut on heavy ground - and it's since emerged that he suffered an interrupted preparation.

The early signs as far as the form's concerned are promising too. The runner-up Clap Of Thunder, who was race-fit, battle-hardened and in receipt of seven pounds, ran out a comfortable winner of a Class 3 novice at Ascot the other day, while We're Red And Blue, who finished a whopping 38 lengths behind the selection at Fairyhouse, gave a well-regarded odds-on shot a bit of a fright at Uttoxeter last month.

We're yet to see Doctor Steinberg, who ended up 22 lengths off his stablemate, reappear, but he fetched nearly six figures himself and was expected to be competitive that day.

Don't get me wrong, I highly doubt those rivals will be making a splash at the highest levels this season, but they're nowhere near useless at the same time. Kopek Des Bordes made them look it, though.

Reflecting on the performance days later, Mullins told Sporting Life: "The first time we worked him, he flagged up he might be a little better than average."

Mullins toyed with the idea of sending his impressive winner to the Punchestown Festival for the Grade 1 bumper next, but ultimately opted to mind him for next season instead. That shows the regard in which he's held.

Perhaps the most glowing report about this horse came from Patrick Mullins just the other week. He said Kopek Des Bordes 'blew him away' at Fairyhouse, and like me reckoned it was "one of the best bumper performances last season".

It's been confirmed he'll be going novice hurdling this term, and I'd imagine he'll be out as soon as the ground eases up a bit, for I'm sure connections will be keen to get some much-needed experience into him.

He's long odds-on to win his maiden, presumably over two miles, and if he's anywhere near as impressive as he was in his bumper, his odds for both the Supreme and Turners would likely be slashed.

Of course, there would then be the inevitable game of Willie Mullins bingo to navigate. It would be unwise to rule out him staying over the minimum trip, but most of the talk in the build-up to this season has been about him being a future staying chaser and he's from a family who excel over middle distances and further, so I'm hopeful about his target.

In an ideal world, he's one for the G1 Lawlor's Of Naas in the new year before heading to Prestbury Park in March. However, there's many potential routes and I don't think it's worth getting hung up on any particular one, given the sheer amount of ammunition Closutton boasts.

Step one is getting him in the book. He's currently 20/1 at Betfred and is 16s in places. Another glowing review or simply an entry and that 20s will soon disappear - and he'd likely be into single figures by the end of the year if everything goes to plan. Fingers crossed.

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