Horses switching from hurdles to fences

[dusty919]

I know most people are focused on the flat at the moment, but I’ve been pondering the many (it seems) short priced favorites that get beaten quite regularly in novice and beginner chases. I’ve always been of the opinion that the later a horse switches disciplines, the less affective they are going to be over fences, I don’t know if this is from getting used to jumping lower and faster over hurdles which translates badly to fences, but as I said, it seems the later they switch the worse they do. Obviously every horse is different, but in your experience, what stance do you take on horses switching from hurdles to fences later in their career? Also, what strategy do you use on betting on novice and beginner chases?

[Bachelors Hall]

Quite often, you’ll find that if a horse is late in switching to fences, it will either be because of some setback or another (Mikael D’Haguenet), the horse hasn’t schooled well enough at home or because the horse wasn’t considered to be an embryonic chaser in the first place and is sent over fences as an afterthought. After all, the majority of top chasers spend only their novice season over hurdles.

As for horses I like going over fences, well the obvious would be ex-pointers in staying chases, ex-French in shorter races, horses with several decent chasers in their pedigree and trainers who know the time of day with chasers and placing. Having said that, I used to like the look of hurdlers who afforded too much air/respect to their obstacles. Sizing Europe being my finest and back in the day (I don’t gamble anymore), most profitable example.

Thanks for the interesting (not flat related) thread

[Author]

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