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:-

St. Leger 2013 Preview

Feather in the Cap - Cap O'Rushes looks the value in the St. Leger

The 2013 classic season is rounded out on Saturday by the oldest classic of them all the Ladbrokes St. Leger.

The stamina test run over an extended 1m6f at Doncaster’s Town Moor course will pit the best of this season’s three-year-old colts and fillies against each other; and the St. Leger is the one classic that is renowned for throwing up a surprise or two, as evidenced last year when Godolphin ‘outsider’ Encke ruined the Camelot Triple Crown dream.

The Leger has arguably become the forgotten classic in recent years and without the Camelot story going in to this year’s race, the 2013 renewal hasn’t really received the hype and coverage that 2012’s race did. Without a truly stand-out star from this year’s classic generation in the line-up as well the race doesn’t quite have the excitement and anticipation built around it this year that it has in the past. That said what we do have is an extremely competitive looking race and one that looks wide open in terms of potential winners.

The Oaks winner and the Derby second and third all line-up, as well as a host of other potential improvers, creating a really intriguing field for the 2013 St. Leger.

Sprint Cup Preview 2013

Mos Be Love - Gerald Mosse reunites with Reckless Abandon on Saturday

As the flat season enters its final couple of furlongs there is no shortage of top class action this weekend with two huge Group 1 races either side of the Irish Sea this Saturday.

Over in Ireland there is the Irish Champion Stakes whilst on our own shores Haydock host the Sprint Cup.

On paper the race looks a lay-up for the season’s sprinting star Lethal Force to notch his third Group 1 of the year having already taken the Diamond Jubilee and the July Cup this term.

He did meet defeat last time out in a hotly run race in France but his second to the world class Moonlight Cloud – who has subsequently won arguably the race of the season when smashing the likes of Dawn Approach and Declaration of War in the Jacques Le Marois – is hardly anything to be ashamed of.

Recently bought for a small fortune by Cheveley Park Stud for breeding purposes Lethal Force can enhance his stud value further here by winning yet another Group 1 sprint.

With old rival Society Rock sadly out of the race through injury it could be a horse from his own yard that gives Lethal Force most to think about here though.

Trainer Clive Cox has thus far this season kept his two star sprinters apart, but this time Reckless Abandon lines up against his stable mate and you may get a sense of deja vu here with me tipping Reckless Abandon in a big Haydock sprint, as I fancied him on his seasonal reappearance in the Temple Stakes when he went down a gallant third to Kingsgate Native and a horse that runs in the same colours as Lethal Force Swiss Spirit, both of whom will again take their chances here.