Surprised there isn't a thread covering this already to be honest and if there is please merge this with that one. As the thread states, what is the 5 horses you are most looking forward to for the new jumps season. Ill get the ball rolling in no particular order. 1 - Lac Fontana 2 - Saphir Du Rheu 3 - Taquin Du Seuil 4 - Un De Sceaux 5 - The New One
1 - Sprinter Sacre - The wow horse when he is right, if he returns in full health we could see a vintage 2 mile chase season with him and SDG. 2 - The New One - He was unlucky in the Champion Hurdle, and whilst his jumping hasn't always been fluent I still think he is a star who can win the CH. 3 - Champagne Fever - I see this guy being the best over fences in 3 mile races. I am hoping he goes for the King George 4 - Vautour - Such an exciting horse. Could be a superstar. 5 - Miss Estella - Impressive in bumpers and now owned by someone who knows good horses!
With the horses listed im not! Struggling to even name 5 Mala Beach Lots Of Memories Cole Harden Royal Boy Pleasant Company
As it's looking forward to rather than betting on I'll go for: Annie Power More of That Sprinter Sacre Vatour Faugheen
No No Manolito; Won his bumper in facile fashion. Uncertain as to wether he will stay in bumpers or go hurdling but I would hedge my bets on the latter. You wont see him out until the New Year as he wont be rushed but he is certainly a star in the making. Value At Risk; Mixed it with some very good sorts in very good races last season and still has plenty to come. Finished last season with a third place in a quality Punchestown bumper and is sure to be even better over hurdles. Blaklion; In my view one of the most progressive novice hurdlers we have seen this season and the lucky owners may have struck gold again. Skys the limit in my view and wouldn't be surprised to see this one bounding up the hill in March...oh yes! Thecorruptor; A lovely big once raced point to pointer who has joined Paul Webber. Will go the traditional route by taking in a few bumpers first, Hopefully the yard will be on form this winter and while this ones future will be over fences he should be worth following in the meantime. All Yours; A Lac Fontana half brother who has joined Paul Nicholls after one run in France. Really could be anything but I wouldn't mind betting that anything turns out to be very decent indeed.
I'll start off to say I bleeding well logged in last night on the mobile and lost my entire 5 to follow on as this bleeding site managed to log me off before I posted 1. Tell us More Flagged him up a few weeks ago. Gigginstown paid £290,000 for him, huge raking stride looks capable of mixing it at the top level. He could smash them up in the Neptune next year. 2. Allez Colombieres This fella was bought out of France for Rich Ricci and trained by Willie Mullins. Big things must be expected as he hasn't raced here yet and already tops the Supreme Novices market. Say no more! 3. Don Poli Won at the Festival last year and seems to fit into the cliche 'that whatever they do as a hurdler is a bonus'...Well he wasn't too bleeding bad a hurdler, ask Beat That if you don't believe me! 4. No More Heroes My third and last Gigginstowner this horse seems to love a real stamina test and could be an Albert Bartlett type, though he is another that 'looks every inch the chaser'... 5. The Tullow Tank Chased home the mighty Vautour on his last start, looks like chasing will be his game. Don't be surprised should this one lead them home in next year's JLT should he stay fit and healthy. Hopefully it will be a great jumps season, no shortage of exciting novices coming through as my list suggests.
Vaniteaux No disgrace coming third in the Supreme. Plenty of great horses have been beat in that. Guessing the plan is the Greatwood hurdle and on towards the champion hurdle. 33/1 could be a nice price once the field cuts up as i think this will be the Henderson/Geraghty horse. Tell us More See Beefy has picked this too. Will be a chaser but plenty of fun to be had with him before. Could be Neptune bound. 20/1 in a place. Southfield Theatre Read that Nichols thinks he will be an awesome chaser, and will be targeted at RSA. On at 20/1. Has had one run, which didn't really tell us that much. But jumped well enough. Hargam Some decent form on the flat in france. Bought by JP Mcmanus and sent to seven barrows. Could be the next Binocular. Djakadam Rich Ricci gave an interview about how disappointed he was when this fell at the festival as he was going all so well. Is only 10/1 for the Newbury hennessey gold cup. Will get a feather weight, but can't back without knowing connections definite plans for the horse. Could be the favorite if he does come over. 50/1 for the CGC, could be the long term plan.
Alton Bay (Peter Fahey) – very impressive winner of a flat race at Ballinrobe on August 30th, quickening in great style past a Rich Ricci owned Mullins horse. By no means disgraced thereafter on the flat when trying to give Rebel Fitz 7lbs and should make his mark in novice hurdles this winter. El Namoose (John Ferguson) – dual bumper winner already this season, giving 10lbs and a beating on the bridle to a well-regarded Longsdon horse last time out. You never know what he might have found off the bridle but he was mightily impressive that day. Has a huge engine and will be very interesting in the novice hurdle ranks. Karezak (Alan King) – looked to have a bit of an attitude problem in his flat races but really stuck to his guns on hurdle debut to see off Philip Hobbs’ Golden Doyen with some better fancied horses from big stables miles behind. Will clearly need to improve his hurdling but looks like another smart juvenile for the McNeill family. Duke Of Navan (Nicky Richards) – an exciting novice chaser who got off the mark in tremendous style at Carlisle when beating Urban Hymn by a head. Both good horses and whereas Urban Hymn is a bigger, more powerful type, I think Duke Of Navan is the speedier, more compact horse who could go on to excel in the 2 mile chase division. Dell’ Arca (David Pipe) – I always like to follow horses who have either won or run very well in the Greatwood Hurdle as it has proven to be a very good race down the years and has even thrown up a couple of Champion Hurdle winners in Rooster Booster and Detroit City. Dell’ Arca won it last season on British debut before finishing 2nd in the Betfair Hurdle, 5th in the County Hurdle and 3rd in the Grade 1 Novices Hurdle at Aintree (where he stayed on really eye-catchingly). Not sure whether they are planning to go novice chasing but he is still on a decent-looking mark of 145 over hurdles so there may be another big handicap pot in him.
Padge - Having put him in my 5 to follow last year before he raced on track I am pleased to say Padge does indeed look a very good horse having came 2nd in a very hot maiden hurdle mid week on his 2nd start, he pulled like a train all the way around and was never settled and still came there tanking 2 out and was flying just a little to late to lose out 0.5 L to the well regarded Shantou Bob with Fletchers Flyer 0.5 L back in 3rd, no doubt in my mind Padge was the best horse in that race and he will prove a better horse in time once he learns to settle and jump, anything 20f to 24f from now on and he will prove a tough nut to crack for Evan Williams. Very Exciting prospect. Abbyssial - The horse that gave Ruby a nice break after sending him flying at HQ in March, Abbbyssial look's a big progressive type and will be going chasing this season. Will receive Weight for age allowances in novice chases and is a possible contender for some of the big chases at Cheltenham next March all going well. Silver Concorde - Dermot Welds Cheltenham bumper winner will need goodish ground to be seen to his best, a hurdling season beckons and no doubting his ability will see him a major contender for top honours this season. Sizing Tennessee - One I put up last year again but we only saw him once, winning a maiden hurdle over a trip far too short and although that form in behind doesn't look magical this lad will be at his best over 3miles and will be superb if he ever get's to jump a fence in the future. Willie Mullins has said he is proving very difficult to train but if he can get him right he is a definite horse to follow, being out of Robin Des Champs one would imagine he will perhaps be a slow burner and that chasing will be his game. I just hope we get to see him race somewhere this season! Seefood - seems to be around forever and sometimes I think is put in all the wrong races, this lad is a chaser out and out, he needs in and around the 24f in trip and a sharp track would help also. His last two wins have been chasing over this distance roughly and he has hosed up by 39l (24f) and 20l (23f) respectively. Not saying he will be top table but he is definitely worth following with the right conditions.
Little bit of an update on my five; Thecorruptor ran in a decent bumper at Ascot on Saturday and was well backed. Travelled well but ran out of steam turning in and wasn't given a hard ride thereafter. Value At Risk has left Philip Fenton and will be trained by Dan Skelton. The yard say he has coming very fit and we will be seeing him soon. Interesting choice of trainer by owner-breeder Marc Huglin as he has a horse at Longsdons!
I thought Taquin ran a nice race in defeat on Saturday, didnt jump too fluently at times and probably found it a bit too fast but stayed the trip very well and interesting to see if he goes for the King George next.
I don't really have a 5 to follow this year. The ones who I think are highly likely to win grade ones this year are: The Tullow Tank - 3rd best novice hurdler last season who's made a terrifically pleasing chasing debut beating Mala Beach (148 hurdler) and Azorian (139 hurdler) with ease over 2m 5f. There's been talk that the horse prefers right handed tracks. If that's true we might not see him at Cheltenham but i would hope they'll take the chance and run him. I think he's an ideal JLT candidate and is the one horse i'm really looking forward to this year. Next stop the Drinmore at the end of the month where we'll see if he's capable of beating some of Mullins best. I really like him as well because the Mullins team skew the market so regularly that i'll likely get 'true prices' about this horse all year. Ballycasey - i was a big fan of this horse last year. IMHO he was much the best horse in the RSA but was outstayed over the last two fences. The team behind him must surely realise that he is their Ryanair horse. I think 14/1 is a very big price. If he'd stayed the trip in the RSA last year he would be close to favouritism for the Gold Cup. The battle against Dynaste in the Spring really could be a special contest and inject some badly needed dynamism into that race. I'll have a think about the others in due course but as of right now these are the two i'm keen to see develop this year.
Runs in the Steel Plate And Sections Novices Chase at Cheltenham on Friday - some top horses have won this in recent years, the likes of Denman, Imperial Commander, Taquin De Seuil, Dynaste, and Grands Crus. Very interesting that they start him here, I assume this means his schooling has been going well.
Well The Tullow Tank and No More Heroes both won their seasonal debuts in fairly bloodless fashion so a decent start. Tell us More holds an entry at Navan this Sunday, as does Vautour. Looks like an informatory weekend both sides of the pond with the Betfair Chase at Haydock and Faugheen the machine taking off at Ascot.
