With the jumps season gathering pace, Andrew Mount picks out his ten National Hunt horses to follow this season, from proven Festival performers to progressive types who can climb the ladder.
1. A Pai De Nom – Dan Skelton
6yo bay gelding
Dan Skelton looks set for another huge season and A Pai De Nom isn’t the first horse from this progressive yard to make the final ten-to-follow cut. The six-year-old Passing Glance gelding improved for a wind operation when opening his account in a 2m5f maiden hurdle at Newton Abbot in late September 2025, and added three handicap hurdle wins, including one at Cheltenham’s November meeting. Since being switched to hurdles, his record reads 1211312 (4-7), improving to 12111 (4-5) in Class 3 or lower company. He has winning form on soft and heavy going (based on race times, not the official going) and he is unbeaten in three starts when returned to the track within four weeks of his previous outing.
2. Ask Brewster – Mrs C Williams
7yo bay gelding
I make no apology for including Ask Brewster in my National Hunt horses to follow list, as I did last season when he won the Kim Muir at the Cheltenham Festival. Pre-Cheltenham, I hadn’t expected him to be rated highly enough to get into that race, suggesting that he might end up in the Scottish National, but he made the cut at the Festival. Having touted him on the Cheltenham Festival preview circuit, I am still kicking myself for not making him a best bet in my GG column, as the forecast strong headwind put me off having anything but a small bet on this front-runner. The key to the seven-year-old is the time of year. He’s drawn a blank in nine starts from November to February but has form figures in the March to October period of 11111119 (7-8), if we include his point win. When racing left-handed between spring and autumn, his record stands at 11111 (5-5).
3. Bossman Jack – Dan Skelton
6yo bay gelding
My wife and I (mostly her, in fairness) organise a Cheltenham Festival preview in my hometown of Market Harborough to raise money for the Injured Jockeys Fund (over £1,000 raised this year), and we are lucky to have Dan Skelton’s assistant trainer Tom Messenger, who has links to the local area, on the panel. All those punters moaning about the Festival wins of the controversial Langer Dan would have been cheering him on had they been in attendance, and I thought that audience members were in for another payday when 18-1 shot Bossman Jack, tipped by Tom when as big as 66-1 for the Grade 1 Turners’ Novices’ Hurdle and described as his “best each-way bet of the meeting”, took third place approaching the last flight. However, he made a mess of the jump and couldn’t recover in time, finishing just over four lengths behind King Rasko Grey in sixth place. It was still a huge effort for a horse who had prepped with a victory at odds of 1-4 in a Ffos Las novices’ hurdle, and he followed his Cheltenham performance with an emphatic victory in the Mersey Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree. Post-race, his trainer suggested that the son of Jack Hobbs was still mentally immature, and I expect there is plenty more to come this term.
4. C’est Different – Sam Thomas
6yo bay gelding
Sam Thomas’ C’est Different failed to score in four starts over 2m-2m2f, but longer trips have been the making of him, and he picked up handicap hurdles over 2m7f-3m at Market Rasen and Newbury last term by a combined margin of 14 lengths. When racing over a trip of 2m3f or further, his record reads 1110 (4-5), with the ‘duck egg’ – in last season’s Pertemps Final at the Cheltenham Festival – easily excused, as he raced prominently on the inside rail in a race dominated by closers out wide. He looks set for another good season, especially if switched to fences.
5. David’s Well – Chris Gordon
7yo bay gelding
David’s Well drew a blank in two point-to-points, finished only fourth in his sole bumper outing, and his four runs over hurdles produced just a maiden success at Plumpton. However, the son of Getaway has been a revelation over fences, recording a comfortable 2m Class 4 handicap win at Leicester in early December 2024 on his first start over the larger obstacles and following up by five lengths at Chepstow later the same month. We didn’t see him again until last November at Haydock, where he made it three from three over fences, and he maintained his 100% record with a Class 2 Cheltenham verdict over JPR One the following month. He’s clearly not been easy to train but looks set to rank highly in the 2m chase division this term, especially if encountering soft ground.
6. Fruit De Mer – Henry De Bromhead
6yo bay gelding
Point winner Fruit De Mer ran second in a Limerick bumper on his sole outing in the 2024/25 campaign, and his first full season under rules saw him run well at both the Cheltenham and Punchestown festivals. Sent off at 28-1 for the Albert Bartlett on the back of a Naas maiden hurdle success (30-100 favourite) and an 11-1 runner-up effort in the Grade 1 Ballymore Novices’ Hurdle at the same venue, he ran an absolute blinder to finish second to Johnny’s Jury. He was only beaten by a length and a half but left the impression that he would have been closer had he not hung left on the run-in and then challenged in the slowest part of the track. Post-race, his trainer said: “Delighted – Fruit De Mer travelled really well and did everything right, and sadly just didn’t win. He’s a horse with a really bright future – he’s a staying chaser of the future. He’s schooling over the fence in the indoor and he’s electric over that, so touch wood, we’ll be dreaming.”
7. Hidden Fortune – Dan Skelton
5yo bay mare
Point winner Hidden Fortune showed promise in two bumpers before landing a maiden hurdle at Fontwell in mid-May, and she returned from her summer break with a powerful six-length victory in a 2m novices’ hurdle at Bangor in September. She has since bombed out when 100-30 for a 2m4f handicap hurdle at Perth, trailing home 17 lengths back in ninth place, but her future lies over fences, and she should be followed closely when switched to that sphere.
8. Home By The Lee – Joseph O’Brien
11yo bay gelding
Having tipped and backed Home By The Lee for the Stayers’ Hurdle in 2023 (fifth), 2024 (third) and 2025 (unseated rider), I abandoned Joseph O’Brien’s stayer for the 2026 renewal and, needless to say, he won at 33-1. He followed that with a wide-margin victory at Aintree (5-1) and, as Weekend Watch viewers will be bored of me saying, progeny of his sire Fame And Glory tend to get better with age, and there’s no reason why he can’t go well in the same races next spring, when most punters and pundits will have written him off.
9. Mets Ta Ceinture – Dan Skelton
4yo bay filly
Mets Ta Ceinture won two of her three starts in French bumpers, finishing as runner-up in Grade 2 company in the other. Switched to Dan Skelton last winter, she was reportedly being aimed at the mares’ Grade 2 bumper at Aintree, but was in such rude health at home that connections decided to take their chance in the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival, in which she finished a fine 14-1 second of 21 to Noel Meade’s 15-2 shot The Mourne Rambler, who went on to finish a close-up second at Punchestown. She has youth on her side and is an exciting novice hurdle prospect for the coming season.
10. Prairie Wolf – Joel Parkinson & Sue Smith
9yo brown gelding
Like many Sue Smith/Joel Parkinson inmates, Prairie Wolf usually needs his early runs, and he has failed to register a win from 12 attempts in the October-November period. Outside of the autumn, his record reads 11992122714113U143P1911 (10-23) for a profit of £45.40 to a £1 level stake at SP. His career took off last term on the back of a wind operation and, after tasting defeat in his two autumn outings, he won three of his remaining four starts, all in small fields over fences and at 2m4f. He missed his intended run in the Topham last spring but, once the autumn is out of the way, I expect him to resume his progress.
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