20 Horses To Follow for the 2025/26 Jumps Season (Part 1: 1-10)

Jon Vine

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Last updated: Wed 08 Oct 2025 16:01

Jon Vine 08 Oct 2025

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Part one of my 20 Horses To Follow for the 2025/26 National Hunt season
Last year's horses to follow won 24 races between them
This article includes Barlovento, Carrock Castle, El Cairos and more

David Maxwell riding El Cairos at Newbury. (Getty)

20 To Follow - Part 1

Andy Amo - Rebecca Curtis
Barlovento - Olly Murphy
Castle Carrock - Alan King
Ce Mi Run - Jamie Snowden
Claim The Throne - Joe Tizzard
Clap Of Thunder - Nigel & Willy Twiston-Davies
Country Park - Jonjo & A J O'Neill
El Cairos - Gary & Josh Moore
Gamesters Guy - Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero
George's Lad - Emma Lavelle

Part one of my 20 Horses To Follow for the 2025/26 National Hunt season, covering horse one through to ten.

It was an up-and-down year for my Horses To Follow in 2024/25. 11 of my 20 to follow won last term, with eight - including the likes of Handstands, Tripoli Flyer, Ascending Lark, Idy Wood and Yealand - claiming multiple victories.

There were plenty of disappointments on that list too though, so hopefully my Horses To Follow in 2025/26 will fare better!

20 Horses To Follow 25/26 - Part 1

Andy Amo - Rebecca Curtis

Haiti Couleurs will fly the flag for Rebecca Curtis in all of the top staying chases this season. The latest talent off her production line of young staying chasers could be ANDY AMO who, like Haiti Couleurs, will start over fences running off a mark of 122.

Comfortably beaten in three bumpers, Andy Amo did well on his first couple of hurdles starts. Curtis' gelding opened his account with a hard-fought success at Uttoxeter on New Years Eve, before making a successful handicap debut at Bangor in March.

On that back of that five-length win, Curtis threw Andy Amo into the Listed Novices' Handicap Hurdle during Fairyhouse's Easter Festival, and Sean Flanagan almost made all before succumbing to Custom Taylor late on. Given his size and scope, this son of Sageburg should improve plenty for going chasing, and Curtis could already have one eye on the National Hunt Chase at the 2026 Cheltenham Festival.

Barlovento - Olly Murphy

Olly Murphy is an excellent all-round trainer, but he seems to be particularly proficient with handicap hurdlers. BARLOVENTO secured some creditable results as a novice last term, and will return to action running off a lovely low rating.

A winner of a bumper at Southwell in March 2024, Barlovento beat several talented sorts with ease when making a winning hurdles debut at Carlisle. Murphy's six-year-old then bumped into the classy Ma Shantou when carrying a penalty at Warwick, before labouring on heavy ground behind the excellent Kepler's Law on his final novice outing at Leicester.

Murphy kept his gelding off the track over the spring, presumably to preserve his handicap mark for this season. I expect Barlovento to improve by at least 10 or 15 pounds during the course of the campaign.

Castle Carrock - Alan King

CASTLE CARROCK caught everyone's attention when bolting up in an Ayr bumper for Nicky Richards last November. A move to Alan King's stable soon followed, and Castle Carrock made the perfect start to life with his new trainer, picking off hot-favourite Diva Luna to make a winning hurdling debut at Sandown.

Tom Cannon's mount found life tougher in better company thereafter. Castle Carrock didn't jump well when finishing third in the Premier Novices' Hurdle at Kelso, before a sixth-place finish behind Honesty Policy in the two-and-a-half mile Grade One at Aintree.

King has the option of going chasing with this strapping son of Mahler. However, given his inexperience, I wouldn't be surprised to see Castle Carrock remain over hurdles for another season, and I'm sure he could pick up a tasty pot or two off his current mark of 133.

undefined — Tom Cannon riding Castle Carrock (white) clear the last to win The Anne Boleyn 'National Hunt' Novices' Hurdle at Sandown. (Getty)

Ce Mi Run - Jamie Snowden

Jamie Snowden has established himself as a particularly potent trainer of mares, and he'll have high hopes for CE MI RUN - a Flemensfirth filly bred by his wife, Lucy.

Sam Twiston-Davies was in the saddle when Ce Mi Run finished an encouraging second to Amelia's Star on her racecourse debut at Newcastle. With Gavin Sheehan in the saddle, Snowden's filly again looked green and unfurnished on her second start at Sedgefield, but fought back well after getting outpaced to claim a four-and-a-half length victory.

I loved the way in which Ce Mi Run finished out her races last season, and she's got a lovely, enthusiastic running style. I expect she'll be trained for the Jane Seymour Mares' Novices' Hurdle - a Grade Two that Snowden has won in three times in the last five years - before maybe heading on to the Cheltenham Festival.

Claim The Throne - Joe Tizzard

Joe Tizzard's third season as a solo trainer yielded better results than the previous two, and he's got some nice young horses to go to war with this term. Chief among them is CLAIM THE THRONE, whose dam is a full sister to Willie Mullins' former Festival winner, Laurina.

Claim The Throne ran three times in Irish point-to-points before moving to Dorset, and didn't show much on either of his first two bumper starts. As a result, Tizzard's youngster went into a hot-contest at Exeter as a 25/1 outsider in February, but swooped home under Harry Cobden to deny stablemate Walk Tall.

I expect Claim The Throne will start out over at least two-and-a-half miles, and Tizzard will be expecting this son of Kapgrade to build on that bumper victory during his novice hurdling season.

Clap Of Thunder - Nigel & Willy Twiston-Davies

CLAP OF THUNDER didn't reach the heights expected of him as a novice hurdler last season, but a fairly fruitless campaign ensures that he'll start out over fences with a lovely low rating of 118.

Second to Kopek Des Bordes in a bumper at Fairyhouse, Clap Of Thunder opened his account over hurdles at the second time of asking with a routing success at Ascot. Nigel and Willy Twiston-Davies' youngster then finished fifth behind Wreckless Eric on his handicap debut at Cheltenham, and was put away for the season after getting outclassed behind classy sorts like Julius Des Pictons and Tripoli Flyer in a couple more two-mile novices.

The Twiston-Davies team love to send horses over fences as early as possible, and I'm sure this son of Mount Nelson has already schooled plenty over the larger obstacles. Given an apparent liking for nicer ground, I expect he'll be out sooner, rather than later.

Country Park - Jonjo & A J O'Neill

COUNTRY PARK is a horse that I took a shine to last season, and I'm hoping we'll see no ill effects from that unfortunate slip during Aintree's Grand National Festival.

Jonjo & AJ O'Neill's six-year-old is still winless in eight starts over hurdles, but that's not for the want of trying. Country Park bumped into classy sorts like Junker d'Allier and Ace Of Spades during the first half of the season, and fell when mounting a challenge on his third outing at Ascot.

Jonjo O'Neill Jnr's mount shaped well against older horses when fourth behind Altobelli at Ascot in February. Country Park could remain over hurdles when he reappears, and the O'Neill's have the option of sending this winning point-to-pointer over fences. Either way, I expect to see him winning races during the 2025/26 campaign.

clap of thunder hurdle — Sam Twiston-Davies riding Clap Of Thunder clear the last to win The GL Events Novices' Hurdle at Ascot. (Getty)

El Cairos - Gary & Josh Moore

The future of EL CAIROS is a little up in the air, after owner David Maxwell decided to retire from riding and sell off his talented string of horses.

El Cairos showed he had bundles of ability last season. Maxwell guided his youngster to an emphatic victory in a bumper at Newbury in November, before securing a creditable fifth-place finish in the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham. Maxwell then took his five-year-old back to Ireland, where the duo would have won the JP & M Doyle Flat Race at the Punchestown Festival, had they not hung violently left across the straight in the final furlong.

This son of No Risk At All showed his prowess for jumping when winning a point-to-point for Sean Doyle in April 2024. I'm sure El Cairos will command a hefty fee at Maxwell's dispersal sale, and I'll be keen to follow him in novice hurdles, wherever he ends up.

Gamesters Guy - Oliver Greenall & Josh Guerriero

I've decided not to include my beloved Iroko in this list, as he sets out on the road to a second tilt at the Grand National. Instead, I'll be following his stablemate GAMESTERS GUY when he's eventually pointed at a fence.

Oliver Greenall and Josh Guerriero's youngster won a bumper on heavy ground at Carlisle in April 2024, and opened his account over hurdles with a 16-length success at that track back in December. Gamesters Guy dropped out the back of the TV when the field turned for home in the Classic Novices' Hurdle at Cheltenham in January, before plugging on up the hill to finish fifth behind Sixmilebridge.

Henry Brooke's mount ran a screamer under 12-00 on his handicap debut at Newbury in February, finishing second to the fast-finishing Wonderful Eagle. This powerful traveller should relish the switch to fences and, given their excellent strike rate around Wetherby, Greenall & Guerriero could already be eyeing up the Towton Novices' Chase for this talented gelding.

George's Lad - Emma Lavelle

The retirement of popular stayer Paisley Park will have left a gaping hole in Emma Lavelle's stable. One who could fill a portion of that void is GEORGE'S LAD, as he embarks on a novice chasing campaign.

Lavelle's youngster went into the Novices' Handicap Hurdle Final at Sandown as one of the fancied runners, following a bloodless maiden hurdle success at Doncaster in January. George's Lad got little luck in running that day, and was plugging on to finish fifth before a tired fall at the back of the second-last.

Lavelle's Mum is one of the founders of the Frisky Fillies' syndicate that owns George's Lad, and I'm sure they'll have spent the summer plotting out a route for this talented Order Of St George gelding. They may opt to remain over hurdles, which wouldn't be a terrible idea, but I'm itching to see George's Lad jump a fence in the very near future.