Colin Keane to Ride The Mourne Rambler in Cheltenham’s Champion Bumper
2 minutes The ride comes courtesy of trainer Noel Meade, who selected Keane to partner the point-to-point recruit in the Grade 1 contest on Wednesday, 11 March.
Multiple Irish champion Flat jockey Colin Keane has spoken of his excitement after being confirmed to ride The Mourne Rambler in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper at the 2026 Cheltenham Festival.
The ride comes courtesy of trainer Noel Meade, who selected Keane to partner the point-to-point recruit in the Grade 1 contest on Wednesday, 11 March.
The Mourne Rambler made a winning start under rules on Boxing Day at Leopardstown Racecourse, defeating Cityofblindinlites in the Race And Stay INH Flat Race—a race previously won by Facile Vega before his Champion Bumper triumph at Cheltenham in 2022.
Speaking from Dubai, where he rides Crystal Black for his father Gerard Keane in the Group 2 Dubai City Of Gold at Meydan on Saturday, Keane told the Nick Luck Daily Podcast:
"I'm looking forward to riding in Cheltenham. Noel asked me around a week ago whether I'd be interested and obviously it was a no-brainer. I was in Dundalk when he rang me in between races and asked, so I said yes straight away. He said go and get your licence sorted and that's what we did and that's where we are now."
Keane added insight into the horse’s potential:
"I actually sat on him the other evening after racing in Fairyhouse, he did probably his last main piece. He looked good in Leopardstown and he feels like a nice horse from what I sat on anyway. I said to Noel afterwards that he feels like he could be running on the Flat during the summer if you wanted him to, very straightforward but he's not a slow horse. I'm looking forward to him now. I watch a lot of the good National Hunt racing but yeah, Cheltenham is something I've always watched."
Only seven previous UK or Irish champion Flat jockeys have ridden in the Weatherbys Champion Bumper: Jamie Spencer, Richard Hughes, Keiren Fallon, Johnny Murtagh, Pat Smullen, and brothers Joseph O'Brien and Donnacha O'Brien. Spencer remains the only previous winner among them, having claimed the race aboard Pizarro for the late Edward O’Grady in 2002.