The past couple of weekends have served up some cracking jump racing. Everyone’s been desperate for a bit of rain and some genuine jumping ground, so it was great to see competitive fields and some good horses stretching their legs again.
You can tell the winter game is back, because Venetia Williams opened her account with Djelo winning the Charlie Hall Chase with just her second runner of the season.
There’s been a noticeable change in the pecking order among the jump trainers with a new generation coming through – probably not the sort to wear trilbies like the old guard used to!
Dan Skelton has come out flying again this year and, after last season, he’ll be determined not to let Willie Mullins get the better of him. He has the biggest team of horses in the country and has already run around 120 of them, so he’s not short of ammunition. He’s the poster boy for the new breed of no-nonsense trainers.
Newmarket-based James Owen is also doing a fine job of pushing boundaries, with one foot in the Flat world and one over jumps, and he’s making a success of both.
Then Olly Murphy is one of the most impressive young trainers around. His strike rate is hovering around 40%, which is extraordinary. He has a yard full of talented young horses, and you feel he’s ready to make that leap. If anyone is going to make Dan Skelton sweat over the trainers’ title, it might be Olly.
Olly also has the bonus of his agent father Aiden helping him buy his horses and Sean Bowen riding for him. Sean is in a class of his own – strong, balanced and clever and worth at least a 7lb advantage to any horse he sits on.
The whole Bowen family are quite something. Eldest brother Michael has made a great start to his training career since taking over from father Peter, who was a fine trainer in his own right and brought fresh owners and money into the Welsh scene. Their younger brother, James, is currently sitting second in the jockeys’ championship behind big brother Sean.
Another changing of the guard
There’s also been a shift in the point-to-point world. It’s an industry under real pressure at the moment, with rising costs hitting just as hard there.
Lately, we’ve seen a few of the so-called semi-pro point-to-point trainers make the jump into the professional ranks, and two to keep an eye on are Tom Ellis and young Max Comley. Max had a proper grounding working for me, and both he and Tom are training the right way.
A couple of young claiming jockeys who are really starting to make their mark are Freddie Keighley and Isabelle Ryder. Both had horsey upbringings in Pony Club, racing and showjumping, the sort that produces real talent.
Freddie rode his first winner at Cheltenham a couple of weeks ago – he’s the son of trainer Martin and I think he was born on a horse. He has a lovely natural balance and an infectious enthusiasm for the game. He’s now with Paul Nicholls, which will only bring him on further, and he’s definitely one to follow.
Now that Rachael Blackmore has retired and Bryony Frost has moved to France, the spotlight has turned to the next generation of female riders. And, as you will have read in Horse & Hound magazine last week (“Female role models”), Isabelle is absolutely one of them. She rode for me the other day and gave the horse a superb ride.
For someone so young, she has a fantastic attitude, real feel and plenty of confidence in the saddle. She’s going places, and quickly.
“The power behind the throne”
To finish, it would be remiss of me not to mention that I’ve added Mat Nicholls onto my licence. Mat has worked with me for 18 years and is very much the power behind the throne here.
We have invested heavily in some really nice young horses and ex-point-to- pointers and had a winner at Aintree with Marsiac, and Uttoxeter with Home Made Hero. We look forward to the challenges ahead.
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