Bunting team on Newmarket weather watch for Cesarewitch favourite

Connections of Club Godolphin Cesarewitch Handicap favourite Bunting have expressed their concerns about the prospect of fast ground at Newmarket on Saturday.

Both trainer Willie Mullins and owner Tony Bloom have a tremendous record in the marathon event, teaming up with Stratum to take home the prize in 2019, one of three successive winners for the master of Closutton 2018 and 2020.

Brighton & Hove Albion chairman Bloom has also tasted Cesarewitch glory thanks to Roger Charlton’s runaway winner Withhold in 2017, but his quest for a third victory in the race could be hindered by the unseasonable conditions Bunting may encounter on the Rowley Mile.

The five-year-old has been subject to plenty of support since his fine run in defeat behind Donnacha O’Brien’s Happy Pharoah at Leopardstown last month, but the the general 6-1 market leader appears far from certain to line up at this stage.

Bloom’s racing manager Sean Graham said: “He ran very well at Leopardstown on Irish Champions Weekend and the plan is to run in the Cesarewitch, but the ground is drying out and he is a soft ground horse. We could really do with some showers before then but the weather forecast doesn’t predict that.

“I don’t think we would want to run him on good to firm ground and I think it would be a wasted trip if the ground was good to firm – he’s an out-and-out soft ground horse who wants to get his toe in.

“I would be worried on fast ground, especially with him being a big horse and the undulations of Newmarket as well, and we’ve been unlucky with him this year as he hasn’t had soft ground to run on at all, even over hurdles in the spring.

“We never once got the soft ground he needs in three outings over hurdles in the spring and coming into the second week of October, you would be thinking at this time of year you would get soft ground, but we haven’t.

“I was thinking when he went to Leopardstown that when he goes to Newmarket in four weeks’ time at least we know the ground is going to be slower, but it’s not, it’s faster. So we will play it by ear and speak to Willie closer to the time.”