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| The Don - Festival winner Don Poli looks set for another big season. |
The coming jumps season has more hype around it than I can ever remember for a national hunt campaign and it might not be misplaced given the plethora of exciting jumpers we have to look forward to this year.
Once again I’m going to try and pick out ten horses that could be in for a big year over obstacles without throwing in the completely obvious ones, because we all know Faugheen’s going to win the Champion Hurdle right?
We’re not in totally under the radar dark horse territory here but in my national hunt ten to follow for 2014-2015 you’ll find ten horses that could be about to enjoy a fruitful season and keep us on the edge of our seat this winter in the process.
Boston Bob
It wouldn’t be one of my ten to follow lists without this lad in there and that sense of déjà vu you’re feeling is because he’s made this list for the past two seasons and last year he finally started to really live up to that promise he showed in his early career.
After looking the likely winner of the RSA in 2013 won by last season’s Gold Cup winner Lord Windermere, I had high hopes of a big second season over fences but connections elected to start him off over hurdles last season to re-build confidence after ending the previous season with two falls, including in the aforementioned RSA.
A facile victory in a pretty poor hurdle was followed up by a dismal effort in the Cleeve on Cheltenham trials day trailing in a 50l last of six. My Gold Cup bet looked alive heading in to the festival before connections supplemented eventual runner-up On His Own for the race leaving Boston to tackle the shorter Ryanair. Another below par effort followed, though the way he stayed on up the hill was eye-catching; and I still maintain he could have entered calculations in a truly awful running of the Gold Cup – his dire Cheltenham record aside.
My unwavering faith was finally repaid in spades at the tail end of the season though as he powered home under Paul Townend to land the Melling Chase at Aintree over 2m4f before stepping up to win the Punchestown Gold Cup under Ruby Walsh in good style over 3m1f.
Those two wins only added to a stellar record away from Prestbury Park which now reads 3111111F111. Like a sucker of course I’ve backed him for the Gold Cup again and if you ignore that rancid record at the track he must have a great shout in a wide open year.
Of course it’s hard to ignore such a shocking Cheltenham record but there are still plenty of big prizes away from the home of national hunt racing and now seemingly having found his groove there are surely more Grade 1 victories awaiting this talented but often frustrating animal.
A best price of 16/1 for the Gold Cup is probably short enough at this stage especially with Champagne Fever potentially looking like being the Mullins Gold Cup horse Ruby Walsh will likely ride this coming year but it won’t stop me once again following Boston Bob of that proverbial cliff for another jumps season.
Ma Filleule
Nicky Henderson’s grey mare captured many people’s imaginations after two top notch efforts at the back end of last season.
Second in that hot 3m handicap at the festival won by subsequent Grade 1 winner Holywell – the two of them pulling well clear of the remainder of a good field. The six-year-old then followed up with a hugely impressive victory in the Topham at Aintree sparking Grand National 2015 quotes galore.
She handles the National fences with aplomb and stays well so the Grand National has to be the ultimate aim for this horse but she’s talented enough that her place in the Gold Cup market is not utterly ridiculous.
Lightly raced and only going in to her second season over fences Ma Filleule can undoubtedly win races on the way to Aintree; she’s tough, jumps well and probably still open to improvement and when you think about how impressive she was in the Topham it marks her down as a very exciting prospect for not only this coming season but for seasons to come too.
No More Heroes
Obvious future chaser under the care of Gordon Elliot that will surely be at the fore in the novice hurdling ranks this season.
Beaten over hurdles in his first start under rules, albeit taking on some more experienced rivals, you could not fail to be impressed by the first of his bumper wins last season; smashing Bosman Rule – a horse that has made a decent start over hurdles already himself – by 39l on soft ground.
Ended last season with a hard fought victory over fellow Gigginstown top prospect Milsean, with the two pulling clear of the remainder on terrible ground.
Likely to improve further for a step up in trip and has to be high on anyone’s list of Albert Bartlett contenders for the coming season at this stage. As usual Gigginstown will have a host of top novices across all disciplines but this is one that looks one of the most exciting again both for now and the future.
Legacy Gold
Rated by the legend that is Martin Pipe as one of the yard’s best chances at the Cheltenham festival, this mare ended up missing the festival due to being too well handicapped, instead taking in Kempton the day after the festival.
Three from four in bumpers the previous season, including the Listed Mares race at Aintree, beating some decent horses, she was also unbeaten over obstacles until that disappointing Kempton run in March.
Looked a good thing that day but jumped poorly and never really got on terms, although was staying on late in the day and if she can brush up on her jumping still looks really well handicapped for some nice pots.
Will surely have had her jumping worked on over the summer and given connections, definitely looks one to follow this season.
Saphir Du Rheu
Hailed by many as the natural successor to Big Buck’s down at Ditcheat, Saphir Du Rheu improved at a rapid rate of knots last season, he began the campaign rated 130 and signed off on 165.
Given Whisper’s late season exploits – won the Coral Cup and an Aintree Grade 1 – Saphir Du Rheu’s Welsh Champion Hurdle victory over Nicky Henderson’s charge by a head reads all the more impressive now having had to give weight away on typically atrocious Ffos Las ground.
Disappointed on his final run of last season when beaten some way in a Fontwell Grade 2 at a short price, but had put in some monster efforts in quick succession prior to that and was likely over the top for that run.
Saphir Du Rheu looks to have all the makings of a star chaser and though Paul Nicholls has suggested that another run over hurdles could be the starting point this term, a novice chase campaign beckons and the JLT or you would think perhaps the RSA look logical targets for this strapping five-year-old.
Un Temps Pour Tout
Expensive French import that joined David Pipe under a wave of hype last season having been the second most expensive jumps horse ever bought at public auction.
Arrived with solid form already from across the channel but suffered a loss on his first start on these shores when out battled in the Haydock mud by Venetia Williams’ Zamdy Man, which was by no means a disgrace.
Started to prove his worth when obliterating the since Grade 1 placed Cole Harden at Ascot on his next start pulling right away to win by an easy 16l.
Missed the festival through injury but rounded off last season by posting a huge effort at Punchestown lugging top weight to finish third in a typically competitive handicap hurdle.
The days of mixing it in handicap hurdles are probably now over but the top contests over timber will surely be on the Pond House radar if they stay over the smaller obstacles, especially given that he seems capable of handling the worst kinds of ground.
He would also make a very exciting novice chaser too if they choose to go down that route with him. Either way Un Temps Pour Tout is set for a great sophomore season in the UK and, perhaps rather surprisingly given his price tag and the reputation he arrived with, looks a little under the radar coming in to this campaign.
Don Poli
Festival winner that has already drawn comparisons with one of his star stable mates Sir Des Champs, due to both having landed the Martin Pipe hurdle at Cheltenham.
Don Poli suffered an odds-on reverse on his first start for Mullins last season when narrowly touched off at Naas, but soon got off the mark before comfortably landing a Clonmel Grade 3 in February.
Flew home to win by 4 ½l in the ultra-competitive Martin Pipe on Gigginstown Friday at the festival off a biggish weight, before gallantly going down to Henderson Grade 1 winner Beat That at Punchestown.
Set for a novice chase campaign this season, he rates as yet another hugely exciting Gigginstown novice for the coming season and all the big novice staying chases should be on the agenda.
Like so many horses that go straight from novice hurdles to novice chases, last season is probably viewed as more of a bonus, as he has all the hallmarks of a monster chaser and given his festival credentials it’ll be a surprise to not see this son of Poliglote as a leading JLT or RSA contender heading in to March.
O'Faolains Boy
A decent novice hurdler two seasons ago (fourth in the Albert Bartlett behind At Fishers Cross) Rebecca Curtis’s horse improved leaps and bounds last season in his novice chase campaign.
He put a disappointing second chase start behind him in which he’d pulled up a long way from home at Haydock – apparently scoped badly afterwards – to land the Reynoldstown at Ascot in February staying on strongly to show that the stamina he showed in his hurdling days was still a major asset.
He wound up a somewhat surprising RSA winner at the festival having proved he doesn’t just need a slog in bad ground by pulling clear of the remainder of the field with Smad Place to just pip Alan King’s grey by a neck. Reportedly losing two shows during the race only adds to how good a performance this was and given RSA winners’ records in the Gold Cup he started earning himself quotes for this season’s blue ribbon in the aftermath.
A line needs to be drawn through his Aintree run when he was stuffed by Holywell after seemingly suffering from the dreaded Cheltenham-Aintree bounce and if you can forgive that he looks a Hennessy horse for the start of the season, and it would be no surprise with festival form now in the bag to see him run well in the Gold Cup and given his stamina maybe even the Grand National in time.
Buywise
Lightly raced seven-year-old for Evan Williams that took his form to new levels for going chasing last season, improving no end.
Had been a pretty unspectacular novice hurdler, but only tasted defeat once over fences in his novice season just gone and that was at Cheltenham. He went in to that festival race on a hat-trick having been winning impressively on heavy ground throughout January and February.
Ran well in fifth in the fiercely competitive 2 ½ mile handicap there before coming back to Cheltenham in April to land a decent Grade 2 in really good style, again over the interim distance, proving in the process that he can handle good ground as well as a bog.
Definitely looks the sort of horse that could be a dark horse to plunder some nice handicap prizes this season, specifically the Paddy Power Gold Cup or even the Hennessy, given that he will stay further.
Clondaw Court
Another that made this list last season too, Clondaw Court’s novice hurdle campaign last season was sadly cut short through injury.
Had been impressive pointing prior to joining Willie Mullins for the all powerful Ricci team and solidified that reputation with a destructive bumper debut winning by an easy as you like 27l.
Made his hurdling debut on Boxing Day with a workmanlike display over an inadequate 2m2f just managing to grind out the win before a step-up in trip brought about a performance more in line with what most of us had been expecting from him when he notched a facile victory over 2m6f.
With Faugheen and Vautour in the mix for the same connections over the shorter hurdle distances in the novice division the Albert Bartlett looked likely before a stress fracture curtailed his season.
Chasing was always going to be the game for this seven-year-old though and he looks another exciting staying novice chaser from across the Irish Sea and stable politics permitting you’d expect the RSA would be his ultimate aim.
Betfred have pulled out of TTF " Business Decision"
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