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Racing’s jumps season gets underway properly in November with high-profile contests such as the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham and the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury.
1. KICKING KING
No apologies for including this grand steeplechaser in the line-up. The fact is that top-class chasers like this fellow are rarities, and while they remain at the top of their game they’re difficult animals to oppose. Kicking King has already notched up a clutch of Grade 1 victories, including last season’s Cheltenham Gold Cup, where he simply brushed the competition aside. At just seven years old, there are plenty of miles left on the clock, and it would be reasonably safe to assume that there are several more powerhouse performances left in the locker. The bookies are already running scared of another superstar season ahead, and this horse could well prove to be their nemesis.
2. TRABOLGAN
If there are any holes in Kicking King’s armour or should he fall prey to injury, then this fellow (another seven-year-old) could be the progressive sort to exploit any setbacks. There was a lot to like about the way he landed the Grade 1 novice chase at the Cheltenham Festival earlier in 2005 and he will now be aimed at all the top threemile contests. It’s true that many winners of that Cheltenham race often fail to use the event as a platform for even greater achievements. But you get the impression that here is a horse who could just buck that trend. Especially if he’s reunited with regular pilot Mick Fitzgerald, who himself is on the recovery trail from a nasty injury.
3. CLAN ROYAL
The crucial part of the 2004/05 National Hunt season coincided with a terrible loss of form for the usually all-conquering Jackdaws Castle stables of trainer Jonjo O’Neill. With those problems now a fading nightmare, let’s hope the forthcoming season brings far greater rewards. The infamous incident whereby a loose horse took Clan Royal out of the 2005 Grand National was of ‘What Happened Next...?’ proportions. So, granted a stable in better form and a luckier passage next year, keep this horse on your side during the season ahead, when doubtless all roads will lead to another crack at the world’s greatest steeplechase.
4. ANDREAS
Trainer Paul Nicholls (pictured) has one of the most formidable racing yards in either the UK or Ireland. So when he holds one of his inmates in especially high regard then it really is time to sit up and take note. This chaser is an import from across the Channel and is only five years-old. Yet he took no time last season as a novice to make his stamp on the jumping game over here. He has already won over the tricky Cheltenham fences, appears to be able to take all types of going in his stride and should be a force to be reckoned with this coming jumps season.
5. RACING DEMON
Having trained some terrific steeplechasers in her time, Henrietta Knight knows what’s what when it comes to recognising a decent piece of horseflesh. She is thought to regard this progressive animal, who ran so encouragingly at the Cheltenham Festival in 2005, very highly. What’s more, the above-average performances he has put in over hurdles could easily be eclipsed when he embarks on a novice-chasing campaign this season.
6. MISSED THAT
Missed That runs in the same colours and can also boast the same handler as that former Irish chasing favourite Florida Pearl. Just as with the latter, it’s quite likely his astute trainer will switch him immediately this season from competing in National Hunt flat races to jumping fences, thus missing out a season or two over hurdles. That won’t be a problem because this strapping six-year-old already boasts a win from earlier Irish point-to-point days. If this fellow is half as good as that former Willie Mullins (pictured) incumbent then he should have an awfully big future.
7. MACS JOY
For a top-notch hurdler to follow this year we will need to look across to the Emerald Isle because Irish horses filled the first five slots in last season’s Champion Hurdle. While their stranglehold may not be so tight this year, the big championship hurdle races are often lifted by battle-hardened types rather than new pretenders. For me, Macs Joy is the one to pick out from the pack and follow this year. This consistent six-year-old enjoyed a purple patch last Christmas and claimed the scalps of all the other big hurdling names at some time or other during 2004/05. For all that, he could possibly enter the season a slightly forgotten horse, which means we will get some decent prices whenever he runs.
8. GUNGADU
Latching onto a jumps horse early in its career and following its development season by season is one of the great attractions of National Hunt racing over the flat. Paul Nicholls (pictured) has already trained several champions and he himself will surely be crowned leading trainer one day. This new, young inmate (he is only five) at Nicholls’s Ditcheat stables could turn out to be a stable star a few years hence. Destined for a period of novice hurdling this season, his potential was spotted early doors by one of the shrewdest judges of Irish bloodstock and is now in the ownership of connections who already have one Cheltenham Gold Cup to their name.
9. FLASH CUMMINS
In recent years, trainer Martin Pipe and owner David Johnson (pictured) have tasted more success over jumps than pretty much anyone else on the planet. This inmate is new to the Pipe operation for this season and is another to have completed his apprenticeship in the Irish point-to-pointing field. In fact, he already boasts a fairly impressive CV. Doubtless his master handler will already be plotting up some raids on some of the major jumps festival events which take place over this winter.
10. BUENA VISTA
This well-bred juvenile actually started life under the care of top Irish flat trainer Aidan O’Brien. Following a fair sixth place in the Cheltenham Champion Bumper, he embarked on a busy summer campaign over hurdles where he ran up an impressive sequence of wins on his favoured fast ground. This is the sort of horse that Martin Pipe (pictured) often manages to improve by stones in performance terms over the course of a season or two.
Racing’s jumps season gets underway properly in November with high-profile contests such as the Paddy Power Gold Cup at Cheltenham and the Hennessy Gold Cup at Newbury.
1. KICKING KING
No apologies for including this grand steeplechaser in the line-up. The fact is that top-class chasers like this fellow are rarities, and while they remain at the top of their game they’re difficult animals to oppose. Kicking King has already notched up a clutch of Grade 1 victories, including last season’s Cheltenham Gold Cup, where he simply brushed the competition aside. At just seven years old, there are plenty of miles left on the clock, and it would be reasonably safe to assume that there are several more powerhouse performances left in the locker. The bookies are already running scared of another superstar season ahead, and this horse could well prove to be their nemesis.
2. TRABOLGAN
If there are any holes in Kicking King’s armour or should he fall prey to injury, then this fellow (another seven-year-old) could be the progressive sort to exploit any setbacks. There was a lot to like about the way he landed the Grade 1 novice chase at the Cheltenham Festival earlier in 2005 and he will now be aimed at all the top threemile contests. It’s true that many winners of that Cheltenham race often fail to use the event as a platform for even greater achievements. But you get the impression that here is a horse who could just buck that trend. Especially if he’s reunited with regular pilot Mick Fitzgerald, who himself is on the recovery trail from a nasty injury.
3. CLAN ROYAL
The crucial part of the 2004/05 National Hunt season coincided with a terrible loss of form for the usually all-conquering Jackdaws Castle stables of trainer Jonjo O’Neill. With those problems now a fading nightmare, let’s hope the forthcoming season brings far greater rewards. The infamous incident whereby a loose horse took Clan Royal out of the 2005 Grand National was of ‘What Happened Next...?’ proportions. So, granted a stable in better form and a luckier passage next year, keep this horse on your side during the season ahead, when doubtless all roads will lead to another crack at the world’s greatest steeplechase.
4. ANDREAS
Trainer Paul Nicholls (pictured) has one of the most formidable racing yards in either the UK or Ireland. So when he holds one of his inmates in especially high regard then it really is time to sit up and take note. This chaser is an import from across the Channel and is only five years-old. Yet he took no time last season as a novice to make his stamp on the jumping game over here. He has already won over the tricky Cheltenham fences, appears to be able to take all types of going in his stride and should be a force to be reckoned with this coming jumps season.
5. RACING DEMON
Having trained some terrific steeplechasers in her time, Henrietta Knight knows what’s what when it comes to recognising a decent piece of horseflesh. She is thought to regard this progressive animal, who ran so encouragingly at the Cheltenham Festival in 2005, very highly. What’s more, the above-average performances he has put in over hurdles could easily be eclipsed when he embarks on a novice-chasing campaign this season.
6. MISSED THAT
Missed That runs in the same colours and can also boast the same handler as that former Irish chasing favourite Florida Pearl. Just as with the latter, it’s quite likely his astute trainer will switch him immediately this season from competing in National Hunt flat races to jumping fences, thus missing out a season or two over hurdles. That won’t be a problem because this strapping six-year-old already boasts a win from earlier Irish point-to-point days. If this fellow is half as good as that former Willie Mullins (pictured) incumbent then he should have an awfully big future.
7. MACS JOY
For a top-notch hurdler to follow this year we will need to look across to the Emerald Isle because Irish horses filled the first five slots in last season’s Champion Hurdle. While their stranglehold may not be so tight this year, the big championship hurdle races are often lifted by battle-hardened types rather than new pretenders. For me, Macs Joy is the one to pick out from the pack and follow this year. This consistent six-year-old enjoyed a purple patch last Christmas and claimed the scalps of all the other big hurdling names at some time or other during 2004/05. For all that, he could possibly enter the season a slightly forgotten horse, which means we will get some decent prices whenever he runs.
8. GUNGADU
Latching onto a jumps horse early in its career and following its development season by season is one of the great attractions of National Hunt racing over the flat. Paul Nicholls (pictured) has already trained several champions and he himself will surely be crowned leading trainer one day. This new, young inmate (he is only five) at Nicholls’s Ditcheat stables could turn out to be a stable star a few years hence. Destined for a period of novice hurdling this season, his potential was spotted early doors by one of the shrewdest judges of Irish bloodstock and is now in the ownership of connections who already have one Cheltenham Gold Cup to their name.
9. FLASH CUMMINS
In recent years, trainer Martin Pipe and owner David Johnson (pictured) have tasted more success over jumps than pretty much anyone else on the planet. This inmate is new to the Pipe operation for this season and is another to have completed his apprenticeship in the Irish point-to-pointing field. In fact, he already boasts a fairly impressive CV. Doubtless his master handler will already be plotting up some raids on some of the major jumps festival events which take place over this winter.
10. BUENA VISTA
This well-bred juvenile actually started life under the care of top Irish flat trainer Aidan O’Brien. Following a fair sixth place in the Cheltenham Champion Bumper, he embarked on a busy summer campaign over hurdles where he ran up an impressive sequence of wins on his favoured fast ground. This is the sort of horse that Martin Pipe (pictured) often manages to improve by stones in performance terms over the course of a season or two.
