Matt Brocklebank, Dan Barber and Ben Linfoot preview the National Hunt season including their horses to follow and best long-range tips.
Our experts are asked to provide a chaser, hurdler, novice and handicapper to follow, before recommending an antepost bet each.
Those tips are available below and you can also check out the full video which coincides with the launch of the Timeform Horses To Follow 2021/22 jumps edition.
Gauloise - Close Brothers Mares' Hurdle (16/1)
GAULOISE looks a cracking bet for the Mares' Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival in March. Willie Mullins has only won one of the last five editions of this race but he did win the previous eight so I think we can let him off!
This is a mare who was really coming to herself at the end of last season, pushing Skyace close at Fairyhouse before winning by 10 lengths at Punchestown.
Mullins is on record stating he possibly hadn't been hard enough on her training up to Cheltenham, where she disappointed in the mares' novice hurdle, but she's a tough mare and I think we'll see her out a fair bit more throughout this season.
There's a strong programme for mares at around two/two and a half miles and nobody knows it better than Mullins, and it all ends up at the Festival.
Matt Brocklebank
Hitman - Queen Mother Champion Chase (33/1)
I really like HITMAN and it takes a lot for me to tip a horse when Alex Ferguson is among the owners, being an ardent Man City fan.
I wish his particularly well with this horse because I look at that Champion Chase market and it is clearly cornered around two horses. Energumene could topple Shishkin but there probably won't be a lot between them, and after that you're looking at 16/1-plus.
Now I tried the same project with Greaneteen last season and it took a while to come to fruition but he eventually proved himself a pretty classy two-mile chaser. I just get the sense Hitman might be a bit more precocious than him as he's done a bit more so far.
I thought he was the best horse in the race at Aintree and just didn't get the trip, I envisage he'll reappear in the Haldon Gold Cup and expect him to win that as he'll be a bit more progressive than the typical sort of horses who run in it.
And at 33/1 in places for the Queen Mother, I don't think it's going to take much for him to establish himself as third-best in that market when you look at the gap between the big two and those filling behind them in the betting. Hopefully his season goes as it ought to and we're discussing him as a potential winner of this in March.
Dan Barber
Clan Des Obeaux - King George VI Chase (5/1)
The King George is worth having a shot at as the Irish horses don't tend to come over for it these days and there are a few near the head of the betting behind CLAN DES OBEAUX, who looks a very fair price to win it again for Paul Nicholls.
You absolutely know that Clan Des Obeaux is going to rock up for this, he's won it twice, and it seems like they're going to go straight there with him this season.
He's just a different horse in the cheekpieces, finishing his season last year with a couple of Grade One wins. I'm sure there are more Grade Ones to be won with him - he reminds me a bit of Silviniaco Conti who, when Nicholls applied cheekpieces, he went and won another three top-class races.
We know how much he loves Kempton and this race.
Ben Linfoot
Timeform Horses to Follow 2021/22 Jumps Season
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