THE jumps is back!
And with it the six-month long build up to the one and only Cheltenham Festival.
There’s nothing like the jumps and it all kicks off on Friday with Chepstow’s season-openerSportsfile
There will be plenty of thrills, spills, some big changes… and hopefully a few winners along the way.
Here, Sun Racing’s Templegate reveals his five key things to watch out for as our National Hunt heroes return.
And don’t forget to check out his tips for Friday’s season-opener at Chepstow.
BACK FROM A BREAK
At this time of year, many jumps horses haven’t run since the spring and some trainers are better than others at getting one fit at home.
Looking for horses who haven’t run since last season ended around five months ago, OLLY MURPHY is the king with a whopping 30 per cent strike-rate and a profit of over £50 to SP in the past four years.
PAUL NICHOLLS does well too along with CHRIS GORDON, NIGEL TWISTON-DAVIES, DONALD MCCAIN and ALAN KING.
At the wrong end of the table, Christian Williams, Harry Fry and Tom George don’t do so well with horses returning from a break.
TRAINERS OFF TO A FLYER
Some trainers like to hit the ground running and get winners on the board.
Looking at October, NICKY RICHARDS has a strike-rate of more than 25 per cent and has recorded a healthy profit in the past couple of seasons.
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KIM BAILEY is another who outperforms his long-term record in October, as does ANTHONY HONEYBALL who is just shy of 30% winners in the opening weeks of the campaign.
At the other end of the spectrum, Sue Smith has a shocking record of just 2 per cent winners in recent Octobers with Tom George also struggling at this time of year.
WOMEN JOCKEYS ROCK
There’s been a surefire way of making a handy profit from British jumps racing since 2020 – back female jockeys.
Some punters may be stuck in the dark ages and are reluctant to back a horse with a female rider. So cash in.
Obviously some riders are better than others but if you’d stuck to the mounts of Gina Andrews, Charlotte Jones, Aine O’Connor, Joanna Walton and Minnie Wonnacott over the past three years, you’d be in clover.
Between them they have a very healthy strike-rate of 20 per cent and you’d be more than £200 richer to £1 at SP backing them – and a lot more if you can take early prices or Betfair SP.
The TimesPunters follow Rachael Blackmore wherever she goes[/caption]
IT’S NOT JUST CHELTENHAM!
We’re all guilty of obsessing about four days in Gloucestershire in the middle of March – but there’s a lot more to the jumps season than the Cheltenham Festival.
Next month sees the Charlie Hall Chase at Wetherby followed by Haydock’s Betfair Lancashire Chase that has been won by plenty of greats including Kauto Star and Cue Card.
Then it’s the Fighting Fifth at Newcastle that could see the return of Constitution Hill before the Tingle Creek at Sandown that was another race beloved of Kauto Star.
Don’t forget what will forever be known as the Hennessy at Newbury, the Becher at Aintree and the Greatwood Hurdle for handicap fans.
And there are two other Gold Cups at Cheltenham – and that’s all before Christmas!
Enjoy each big race as it comes and, yes, keep one eye on the Festival but it’s not the be-all and end-all.
CELEBRATE CONSTITUTION HILL
There was much gnashing of teeth when Nicky Henderson and connections announced Constitution Hill will be staying over hurdles this season instead of going for the Cheltenham Gold Cup.
While it would have been nice to see him have a crack at the bigger obstacles, Hendo is probably right that he wouldn’t get the 3m2f trip of the big chase.
And let’s remember, he had a go over fences in the point-to-point field and didn’t set the world alight.
So let’s stop moaning and just enjoy a horse who could be the best Champion Hurdler since Istabraq.
Anything less than a 20-length cakewalk at Cheltenham in March will be seen by many as a failure.
But winning back-to-back Champion Hurdles would be a fantastic achievement even if he does it by a short-head.
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