Guide to the jumps!

[MDeering]

Your voracious appetite for jumps racing has swayed me – I can’t hibernate for four months, and watching Comply or Die win for my 12/1 ticket was near enough to the sweetest victory I’ve seen.

So … do tell, how does one grasp the form of a jumper?

What do you need to look for? What are the key factors?

My small grasp on this game says: how they jump the fences, if they will stay, stable ability as a whole, and that’s about it.

What makes Kauto Star and Denman such great jumpers?

What key factors in a horse tell a difference between if they are hurdlers or chasers?

There’s plenty I’d like to know, but just chip various stuff to me and that’ll do.

No other website direction though please – I value <b>YOUR</b> input!

[Wallace]

A lot of questions but I’ll chip in with a starter on breeding. You will soon learn to spot horses that are specifically bred for jumping. Slow maturing types that are often too slow to compete early in their career and develop as 6-y-o’s onwards. You will often see that certain owners and trainers specifically buy this type of "store" and their goal is to produce a winning chaser.

At the other extreme is the former flat racehorse making a progression to jumping as hurdlers. It is fascinating every season to see how these horses progress or not when racing over hurdles. In recent years it has become fashionable to buy expensive high class flat horses for a jumping career. The results are very variable.

Good luck with your learning curve.

[Getzippy]

C’mon – you’ve made almost 1000 posts, so you must know something!

I think all the usual rules apply when assessing a horsey’s chance.

You may be less familiar with some of the runners but perhaps you could utilise your knowledge of the flat; one’s that could make useful novice hurdlers according to their flat form and possess scope. I am not sure how much flat pedigree will play a part?

If you are disciplined with your flat punting, make that the cornerstone of your NH wagering.

I am sure others will provide successful trainer/jockey/track combinations.

Personally, I much prefer the jumping game for its thrills n’ spills and the longevity of many of the contenders.

Zip

[BennyB]

I suppose you could split this into two:

A horse’s "engine" is one factor (i.e a blend of speed and stamina necessary to win a race over a particular distance.

Jumping ability is a separate matter, chasing and hurdling requiring different skills (a really good hurdler, e.g. Istabraq, will barely jump at all, just tucking their legs away underneath them to clear the obstacle without losing any speed).

Jumping ability affects race outcomes in two ways really – a good jumper will be less likely to fall/unseat, but perhaps more importantly they will use less energy and speed getting from one side of an obstacle to the other, thereby saving more energy for the finish.

Kauto and Denman both have fantastic engines and jumping ability (though Kauto’s tendency to jump the last badly is a constant mystery…)

[wilsonl]

There’s a hundred and one things to consider but you’ll discover a lot for yourself. The beauty of the jumps game is that the horses are around longer to enable a more thorough understanding of their likes / dislikes.

One thing I will add is be careful when analysing Irish runners in GB and vice versa.

Whereas on the flat the majority of the Irish runners will be contesting / winning (delete as applicable) group 1 races, over jumps the top horses tend to stick to their own country for the majority of the season and meet at the end of season festivals, e.g. Cheltenham.

They use different handicap systems in both countries and the handicapped horses face each other fairly regularly with trainers like Tony Martin (IRE) particularly adept at exploiting handicap marks.

Lee

[Neil Watson]

Best thing to do Myles isto book a weeks Holiday over here in Blighty and come over the week after the Melbourne Cup

From Monday 17th to Friday 21st you can do the following

Mon Leicester
Tue Folkestone
Wed Warwick
Thu Hereford
Fri Ascot

Now that will teach you a lot about National Hunt Racing,

By the way proper fans use the phrase National Hunt

People have told me one key factor which is never bet odds on in Novice Chases.

[MDeering]

I like the sound of novice NH.

Reminds me of college football, or exciting juveniles on the flat.

[dave jay]

For what it’s worth, physicality, temperament and then on the day overall ability is what I look for.

The key to NH racing is probably the trainer. It goes without saying that the best horses are at the best yards, but some trainers seem to be better at getting chasers going than they are hurdlers. The smaller trainers also seem to have a better chance of training on good horses than they do on the flat. If you go to the racing post stats page and search through some trainer data you will see what I mean.

[carvillshill]

I prefer the jumps because the horses are around longer and their preferences become easier to spot. What works for me is knowing what horses can or can’t jump (Ring the Boss can’t), whether they can cope with a big field or not, whether they have a preference for going left or right-handed, flat or undulating track etc. I don’t envy you trying to make sense of it from the other side of the world but you seem to have gotten a decent handle on our Flat horses, so good luck!

[yorkshirepudding]

Having campagned on the flat and hurdles i prefer the flat. Juvinile novice hurdles/chasers throw the odd nice horse, but few have long career, the same applies too over raced two yearolds on the flat.

I personally would rather see a horse sent hurdling at novice hurdling at four as the in that season they can stick too novice company, horses who run over hurdles at three are stuck the following season as they are not as strong as older horses they have too run against in handicaps.

I hate seeing horses who are badly schooled or simply cannot dump racing, as far as i am concerened they should be subjected too a jumping test the same as flat horses who behave badly in the gate.

[clivex]

What works for me is knowing what horses can or can’t jump (Ring the Boss can’t), whether they can cope with a big field or not, whether they have a preference for going left or right-handed, flat or undulating track etc.

I think thats spot on

To go alittle further, pure jumping ability becomes more crucial the more competitive a race is. Sounds obvious, but suprising how many follow horses that have flaws.

I think also trainers on the jumps can be even more seasonal than on the flat. The timeform trainers stats book is full of great pointers and commentaries

And some trainers simply train them to jump better than others. And will have them better prepared. wont name names, but if you see a novice hurdler from some satbles you can be sure that they will be properly attuned immediately. Less so with other, even high profile, outfits

Flat ratings are commonly disregarded when assesing hurdlers, but again in the right hands, i think they are still significant and perhaps underrated

[carvillshill]

I agree with that- one of the most useful pieces of information I’ve begun using in the past few years is the rough translation of flat to hurdles mark adding 35 (not absolute but near enough for government work).

[Anonymous]

Any more tips from a betting point of view?

You see I can’t understand how a horse is beaten 19 lengths then 22 lengths and then hacks up at 20/1?. Trying to judge if a horse will get the distance is another I find hard for example; " no extra 4f out " then goes to win next time out stepping up in trip but it just stated the horse found nothing so how would it benifit from stepping up? slower pace?.

thanks

[Fist of Fury 2k8]

The ground will always be the most important factor over the jumps. It can turn a good horse into a cart horse and you should always totally ignore runs on unsuitable surfaces. You can get good value for horses who have lost a race with the ground being the cause. It causes doubt in the minds of everyone when one gets turned over and many don’t have the belief to back them………..hope you can follow that.

The thing I look out for mostly is a young horse who travels well in his races and have won without really having a race. A decent trainer will get two or 3 consequitive wins out of them by simply placing them correctly. It is much easier to do over the jumps than it is on the flat and in many cases a 19 runner novice hurdle can be whittled down to about 3 horses.

I look out for things that jmp out at you and make notes to have a punton them later;

A coupe of examples:

Straw Bear 2/1 the other day stank to the high heavens to me and luckily I left him alone. He blew up 3 from home and McCoy made little or no real effort to win. If he could have won easy he would have but no way McCoy was going to knock 10 bells out of him.

Nevertika a very good novice chaser ran over hurdles the other day. I assume Kate Walton did so for two reasons. The horse fell on his last outing last season so a confidence booster would be the idea and of course to get the horse spot on for his first run over fences. He had a lovely run round behind them, saw a few people and all in all had a nice day out. Sure fire winner again this season.

For me that’s what racing is all about not backing everything you can on 4 legs. Takes time and patience to make money at what is a very tough game.

Good luck for the season if you do have a punt.

[Author]

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