The seven-year-old is now trained by Willie Mullins having previously been with Sandra Hughes
With still over 150 days until the Festival gets underway in March, bookmakers are already cutting the odds of one Gold Cup hopeful, despite the horse having not even stepped foot on a racecourse this season.
Acapella Bourgeois has been pinched in from as big as 50/1 with some firms to 20/1 in places following a number of bets in the last 48 hours. In total, 45% of all bets on the ante-post market through Oddschecker have been for the now Willie Mullins-trained seven-year-old.
Trained last season by Sandra Hughes, the horse transferred to the Mullins stable after Hughes’ decision to retire. The horse is already a two-time Grade 2 winner over hurdles as well as repeating the feat over fences last year when landing the Grade 2 Ten Up Novice Chase at Navan by 32 lengths.
The ‘gamble’ on Acapella Bourgeois could well be accounted to the success Mullins enjoyed with Total Recall on Sunday in the Munster National Handicap Chase at Limerick. Another novice who spent last season with Hughes, the eight-year-old barely came off the bridle as he sauntered to a seven length victory in what looked on paper a competitive handicap.
Oddschecker spokesperson George Elek: "Despite not having jumped a fence yet this season one can be fairly confident that Acapella Bourgeois will improve markedly having switched stables to Willie Mullins' yard. He went off a 5/1 shot in last year's RSA Chase and could well be the horse that Mullins turns to for that elusive Gold Cup win, in which case any double figure prices will look huge come March."
With Sandra Hughes shortly retiring from the training ranks, the classy Acapella Bourgeois is set to join Willie Mullins, reports @Ui_Maine pic.twitter.com/uXfeCYDgiv
— At The Races (@AtTheRaces) May 18, 2017
