Ten To Follow - National Hunt 2013 - 2014

As the last horse crossed the line in the St. Leger – the horse that I backed incidentally – winter inched one step closer, and we are now only a matter of weeks away from the national hunt season kicking in to high gear.

Thus it is time for my now bi-annual look at ten to follow from the upcoming season.

Last year’s ten horses did us proud over the course of the season, with many running well at the highest level on multiple occasions. I’ve tried to be a bit more creative with this jumps season’s ten to follow whilst still not going too left of centre. By that I mean sticking to horses that have the potential to make it to the top of the tree over whatever obstacle it is they end up lining up against in 2013-2014, but trying to avoid the glaringly obvious.

So without further ado, here are my ten horse to follow for the 2013-2014 National Hunt season:-

Festival Focus - Champion Bumper

Big Willie Style - I'm hoping Mullins can win the Bumper again with Clondaw Court

The Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival can often be more of a minefield than some of the notoriously tricky-to-solve handicap races.

One stat that can always guide you though is that Willie Mullins usually has a very strong hand for the race – as evidenced by Champagne Fever’s victory in the race last year – and this year is no exception with several of the leading contenders at this stage looking likely to come from the Mullins yard.

The form of last year’s race is already working out very well this season with several of the horses from last year’s Bumper coming out and performing to a very high level this year, notably Jezki and The New One; so it is always a race to take note of for the following season’s novice hurdlers.

This year’s renewal also looks to feature a crop of horses that could potentially go on to achieve great things, but at this stage, knowing so little about many of them, it’s hard to know which will make it and which will sink without a trace.