ONE of the best parts about heading into the winter jumps is considering where the novice chasers fit in with their more experienced rivals.

If there is a strong crop, they can compete with the best in open company while the ones just below them often do well in the better handicaps. A weaker group, on the other hand, can be overbet in the self-same races based on profile alone.

Majborough was the standout among the Irish novices at shorter trips last season, but the stayers are a more interesting group to consider, not least because they were confusing.

During the 2024/25 Irish jumps season, there were 10 Grade 1 and 2 novice chases over at least two miles, three furlongs with nine unique winners, pointing to the idea that no staying novice stood out, though two Irish-trained horses won equivalent races in Britain, Lecky Watson at Cheltenham and Impaire Et Passe at Aintree.

Ballyburn was the one expected to be the standout at the start of the season but two wins from five starts was a disappointing return, his jumping letting him down on the biggest days.

Paul Townend’s commented – via Willie Mullins – that ‘he wanted to get his jumping out of the way’ after winning the Grade 1 at the DRF and his words after the Broadway Novices were hardly brimming with positives either.

He said Ballyburn ‘did nothing right’ as his keen-going, low head carriage style got found out in the best race he had contested over fences, and he was flattered to finish as close as he did, the slow pace meaning he was able to get away with jumping poorly whereas with a proper gallop he would have been left behind or perhaps fallen.

Ballyburn settled and jumped better at Punchestown but failed to win despite there being three significant non-completions in a field of nine, the winner a nine-year-old novice. Mullins has considered all this, and a staying hurdling campaign is planned.

Asterisks

The horse that won two Grade 1s this past winter in Ireland was Croke Park though those wins come with asterisks. He was a 22/1 rag of five when winning the Drinmore, getting left alone in the lead, before following up in a four-runner Grade 1 at Christmas where fog meant it was hard to make out what happened.

After that he finished second to Ballyburn at the DRF, finishing weaker than ideal, before a poor run at Aintree, and there is a history of bleeding with him too. Lecky Watson didn’t win an Irish Grade 1 or 2, his graded win in Ireland coming at Grade 3 level but he landed the Broadway Novices in good style despite being one of the outsiders, well-positioned off a steady pace but still having lots in hand.

He looks a speedy three miler and settled the Broadway quickly before going left late, a reminder of the quirks he showed as a younger horse.

He won just once in 10 starts in bumpers and over hurdles, that win coming at 4/7, but fences have transformed him, and there is a chance he will be underrated again this winter.

He fell early in the Punchestown Grade 1 won by Champ Kiely but is otherwise unbeaten over fences.

Interesting horse

The Broadway runner-up was Stellar Story, and he is an interesting horse to consider because it is possible that he is better than he showed at any point last season. He won the 2024 Albert Bartlett through stamina but hasn’t gotten a true test since.

Gordon Elliott opted to run him in a three-runner Grade 2 on chase debut, and while he won that race, the decision may not have worked out.

He jumped poorly then, and it meant that he built up little experience before stepping up in grade and now had a penalty in all but Grade 1s. He then went to Leopardstown where his jumping was found out before running back in the Ten Up at Navan.

Under a penalty, he came out best at the weight when beaten only a neck but more than that he shaped best, getting a most un-Gigginstown ride dropped out in rear, the idea seemingly to educate him before finishing best.

He built on that next time when second in the Broadway, but that race didn’t get to the bottom of him, and it was similar story behind Champ Kiely at Punchestown, also run on decent ground. A well-run race on soft ground could see a different horse.

Likeable

The final interesting one from this division is Spindleberry. She is a most likeable mare, her only bad run at the 2024 Punchestown Festival excusable as she was hampered early then made a bad mid-race mistake.

Unbeaten in three over fences, she did well to overhaul a prominently ridden de Bromhead runner on chase debut at Cork in December at a time when the Mullins yard was quiet.

She missed her next target due to the ground being faster than ideal before winning at Fairyhouse in late February, a run that left her too tight to run at Cheltenham, before winning the Grade 1 at the Fairyhouse Easter meeting.

There were a lot of positives in this win. The time was 17.9 seconds quicker than the following rated chase over the same trip and Spindleberry travelled much the best here, still coming back on the bridle between the final two, her jumping not perfect yet but the least exposed in this field.

She has a higher ceiling, and it is possible three miles will suit better again. This was a weak Grade 1 that was weakened further with a faller, but she is hard to pick holes in otherwise.

IT is ‘starting back’ time for winter jumps horses, and punters face the usual guessing game about the readiness of potential bets.

There are different ways of estimating fitness, from trainer angles to an individual record fresh, but often the market is the best guide as was the case at Galway last Saturday.

Three winners were well-backed, L’Evangeliste (7/4 early to 8/15), Eachtotheirown (11/4 to 6/4) and Will The Wise (7/4 to evens), and while not all were returning from a break, some of their rivals were and the betting suggested the run would be needed.

Those three winners made all and were left alone, which can be the way in Irish maiden hurdles and novice chases, particularly at this stage of the season.

That is tolerable to a point in maiden hurdles where there are younger horses with a wide range of abilities but is less palatable in a novice chase like the one Will The Wise won.

The Gavin Cromwell runner had plenty in his favour here: he had more chase experience than most, was fit and had course form, but one would like to see more initiative from the riders on some of his rivals.

Good pace

Keith Donoghue set a good pace but was four lengths clear over the second and that was out to six lengths by the fourth, at which point there were further gaps back to the third and then the rest of the field.

It is not as if his rivals were far behind Will The Wise in ability, at least judged by hurdling marks.

Will The Wise was rated 135 as a hurdler, while the eight horses to chase him home here had marks of 125, 135, 123, 136, 125, 118, 123 and 124 respectively.

None of this to say that Will The Wise will not prove a better chaser, especially as he goes up in trip, but some intent from the rest would have made it a more competitive spectacle and might have tested his somewhat patchy jumping.