Ben Pauling looks ahead to the 2017/18 National Hunt season including Willoughby Court
Ben Linfoot visited the upwardly mobile training operation of Ben Pauling and came away excited about what lies in store for the handler.
After a six-year stint learning his trade under Nicky Henderson, it’s been a whirlwind start to the training career of Ben Pauling.
In just four seasons with a licence he’s already trained two Grade One winners, Barters Hill and Willoughby Court, the latter producing a fantastic performance to land the Neptune Investment Management Novices' Hurdle at this year’s Cheltenham Festival.
That sparked wild celebrations that lasted long into the night, but once you've got a taste for success you want more and the ambitious Pauling, who has already seen his Bourton-On-The-Water yard grow from a modest 20 boxes to 77 in four years, simply wants one thing this campaign: more winners.
"In our short career so far we've had quality horses flying the flag for us which is great, but we now need to bang a few more winners in," Pauling says.
"I was hoping for 40-50 winners last year and we fell short because we went and got a bloody bug for the last month or so and it really kicks you in the goolies when you try and finish well and suddenly you can’t. I look at this year’s team and think they’re a very smart bunch."
Goolie-kicking permitting, the signs are this will be a best-ever season for Pauling and his team. And to help with the job in hand, Daryl Jacob has been signed up as stable jockey to the yard as Pauling bids to improve his numbers for the fifth successive season.
He said: "It’s huge having Daryl Jacob on board. Nico de Boinville and David Bass have done a great job for me the last few years but they have stables they’re attached to and I needed someone that was committed to me more often than not.
"Obviously he’s got Simon Munir and Isaac Soude’s job as well, which we’ll have to factor in, but I think we can do that quite successfully.
"Daryl’s got a huge amount of experience, he’s ridden in all the big races, they’re the sort of people you want on your side. We’re still relatively new in the game and we need people that can give us the feedback we need to hear to move on and improve."
Established stars such as Willoughby Court will be flying the flag, but, thanks to his patience, a key attribute in Pauling's lightning-start to the game, somewhat ironically, means he has a really smart group of novices and bumper horses that are set to be unleashed in the coming months.
Willoughby Court takes the opener in a thrilling finish from Neon Wolf to give trainer Ben Pauling a first Festival winner #TheFestival pic.twitter.com/YOAbqU48aL
— Racing UK (@Racing_UK) March 15, 2017
"I say it to every single one of my owners that buys a store horse every year," Pauling explains.
"I say we’ll give it a go for the end of the season but don’t get excited because if they’re not ready they’re not ready. The difference between a horse in April going out for its grass and July coming back in is phenomenal.
"They strengthen, they grow up, they can lose a bit of condition, so you’ve just got to be patient.
“Barters Hill, he went out a horse that I thought was not much cop at all and he came back in ready to win four bumpers in one season. If I'd run him the year before he just would not have won, he'd have ended up going a completely different route."
With the National Hunt season about to kick into top gear, these are exciting times down at Bourton Hill Farm. Here, Pauling goes through 21 of his horses that he expects to make a mark this campaign...
Stable Stars
We all adore him here. He’s very much an autumn horse so we’re aiming him first-time out in the Greatwood. He ran a blinder in it last year, jumped the last going very well and, I don’t know if he’d have won it but he might’ve been second, if it weren’t for Modus coming flying across us. He finished a good fourth beaten a couple of lengths and he’s a horse that hasn’t got many miles on the clock. He remains full of enthusiasm.
It wasn’t the idea to go all guns blazing first time out with him at Cheltenham last season but I’m afraid the ground was so slow we sort of found ourselves there. It was surreal, like, ‘oh dear Barters Hill has pulled up, what are we going to do about it?’ and everyone was very calm. It was obviously a huge blow to the yard. He’s in good form now, though. He’s in really good form. I can’t say anymore than that. He’s doing two canters daily, he is absolutely loving it, charging up there trying to do more and more every day. We’ll step him up to three canters in a short amount of time and then we’ll get him back working. I guess it’s when we work and school him that we really find out what is there. But at this present moment in time, everything that I have hoped for is there. At the moment, touching wood, everything has gone very smoothly and I’m confident that he will return and run again. We don’t know what level of ability he’ll retain, if it’s anything like the ability he had then he’s going to be very well handicapped.
He didn’t show us what he was capable of in the Sky Bet Supreme and that’s probably my fault. I asked Alex (Ferguson, jockey) to try and find himself a bit of daylight and we ended up five wide, vying for second place but right across the track on the outside. That was my fault for asking Alex to find some daylight and they went a decent gallop, so after 1m6f to ask a horse to pick up again when he’s run further than everyone else already was tough. He just stayed on at the same pace, a bit of a lacklustre performance but I blame myself as much as anyone. But, I think we went there with place claims and I think he’s capable of that kind of form. We’ve had a good chat with John Ferguson and, we’re not saying he’s not a Cheltenham horse, but we think he’s electric on a flatter track. He’s got a huge engine and a massive stride, so when he gets into a rhythm he’s quite dangerous. There’s an Ascot hurdle at the beginning of November and then we’ll possibly look at the Gerry Feilden at Newbury. We’ll keep him to a few tracks that suit and if he proves himself we can have a look at Cheltenham again.
We’ve been so up front and honest about this horse we might as well continue. He won his bumper at Warwick very nicely indeed, he came out last season and got beat at Bangor which is when I doubted myself and sent him hurdling. He won a Sedgefield novice hurdle which didn’t look great at the time but the well beaten runner-up, The Bay Oak, of Dan Skelton’s, is nearly a 130s horse now. Unfortunately he picked up a bit of a knock and had a bit of time off, but then he went to Newbury and won beating Benatar by nine lengths and that horse was touched off by Finian’s Oscar by six lengths up at Aintree. We chose to avoid Cheltenham because it was too soon after Newbury and went to Aintree where unfortunately he wasn’t right. He got worked up before the race, he’s quite a highly-strung individual, but he almost lost his head and galloped through the first hurdle, where as usually you can’t make this horse make a mistake. They’re not machines and little things like not being quite right can make a horse anxious and fractious before a race. He remains a horse I think an awful lot of and if he is as good as I think he is he’s very well handicapped off 139. He could start at Aintree over 2m4f on October 31. After that we’ll have to look at some serious level weights races if he wins as I might expect.
I’m thrilled to have him here. Obviously he won the Challow and was second in a Neptune, before returning to run over fences where he gave himself a bit of a leg. He’s come back in after plenty of time off and he’s a gorgeous-looking horse, very strong, very powerful. If we can get him back to his best John would like to think he’s potentially a Stayers’ Hurdle horse, but we’ve a long way to go until we get to that point, but 2m4f to three miles is his trip so we’ll give it a good shot. He’s not rated too highly for handicaps, but when I asked John about utilising his handicap mark he said he was not necessarily a horse that would thrive in a big field, so we’re looking at better quality races with smaller fields.
Season by season he’s getting easier and easier to train and he's being less hard on himself, physically, by being not being as nervous and almost doing too much. He’s never summered better. He’s done brilliantly as he’s not the sort of horse that has summered well before. He looks great and we’re now well into our preparations for his first run of the season. He’s done five or six pieces of work at home, at least, if not a bit more and here we are in the middle of October with November 5 as his first target. That’s a novice chase at Huntingdon over 2m4f. It’s a fair track, we’ve had a lot of success there. The fences are kind but big enough that they respect them, so that’s definitely his first target. He’s never been better in himself. I’m keen to keep him over two and a half miles.. The speed that he has over his fences, at the moment three miles I think he might be doing too much so we’ll keep him at two and a half in the meantime and see where we are mid-season. I honestly think the JLT [would be his preferred Cheltenham Festival target] at the moment. He won a Neptune on good ground and it wasn’t a slow-run race. In team he’ll be a three miler and we can dream about what he might be in a year’s time. But I’m a firm believer in that you don’t go further than you need to before you have to.
Novice Hurdlers
He’s a fabulous horse, we like him. He won a decent bumper at Market Rasen and then just got beat in the Listed bumper at Cheltenham. It appears he does a little too much at home and he was just over the top when he ran at Ascot, so with that in mind we’re training him this year to see the season out and I do think he’s well up to winning his novices and then we might look at the sort of route that Willoughby Court took last year. Maybe something like the Leamington Spa at Warwick, but he wants better ground than Willoughby does so we’ll have to pick our way, but he’s a horse I hold in high regard. He could start out at Chepstow on October 31.
He’s run in France, finishing second in a juvenile chase at Auteuil last time finishing very well. He’s not the biggest horse, but he’s powerful. He could be a two and a half mile novice hurdler and he’s strong, small and he tries. I’ve not been overly hard on him but he seems to give you everything he’s got. With the form he’s got he’s going to be a nice novice hurdler this season.
He’s a lovely horse. He came over last year, he was owned by Wilson Dennison, and I ran him at Bangor where he came back not quite right. We had to give him the rest of the season off, but I always thought a huge amount of him and it’s testament to him that if he finished second not quite right that he’s a proper horse. I’m very excited to have him back in, he looks fabulous. I’m thrilled that Simon and Isaac have bought him and he’s a novice hurdler to watch as far as I’m concerned. We’ll take every step as it comes whether it’ll be here or in France or wherever. We might start him off in France but that’s not been decided yet.
I think Whin Park has woken up. He was mentally immature last season but slowly it has clicked into place. He looks good, works really well and has scope to burn. He has a high enough rating for what he has achieved but now he’s maturing I hope we see what he’s really capable of. He could go handicapping or stick to novice hurdles.
He’s been in six to eight weeks and he’s going really nicely, owned by JP McManus. He won in taking style at Warwick at the back end of last season and I was thrilled that JP was keen to buy him.. He’s a lovely horse at home, he’s schooled very well, he’s six weeks off a run, I haven’t chosen anywhere for him yet but he’s a horse I do like.
Novice Chasers
Bally Gilbert could be very well handicapped over fences, he goes novice handicap chasing. I thought he would be one of my top novice hurdlers last season but it didn’t quite go to plan. He got jarred up at Cheltenham and then made a noise at Newbury where I thought he would win. We’ve had his wind tinkered with and he’s summered really well. He jumps brilliantly.
He’s a little dinger of a horse, never really had the rub of the green last season. He was all guns blazing for the EBF Final but a setback ruled him out the week before and then I ran him on too tight a track over too short a trip. He goes to Cheltenham on October 28 for a 0-140 2m5f handicap hurdle and then he goes novice handicap chasing and I’d like to think he’d be good enough to figure in one of the novice handicaps in the spring. He jumps a fence very well, he’s schooled very well.
He’s been very unlucky. He was going along well besides Might Bite when he fell and then he unseated at the first, but then Doncaster, well, he’d have won by 10 lengths that day if the saddle hadn’t slipped two out. He’s had a rotten old time, but, second season novices are at an advantage and I thought I might run him as soon as Wetherby on October 18 over 2m4f in a novice chase so that’s where we’re aiming him. He’s actually a very good jumper, it’s quite extraordinary the problems he’d had in that department considering his ability over a fence. But his experience should hopefully stand him in good stead now.
A horse that showed us plenty early doors, winning well at Lingfield. I thought he’d win, or certainly run very well, in the Lanzarote and Alex Ferguson turned over at the first with him, a horrible slap, and he lost his confidence after that.. I couldn’t believe he got in the County and he fell again at the last and it told me he’s not respecting his hurdles, quite strange for a Flat horse. We’ve decided it’s do or die and he’s decided to do, as he’s jumping fences beautifully. He’s schooled really nicely and he’ll go novice chasing, though I haven’t made a plan for him yet.
He’s a decent type and goes novice handicap chasing. I’d like to think he’d improve again for a fence. He’s a hold up horse, he wants to be coming late and fast. He should’ve won at Doncaster last season but he hit the front too soon, so at least we know what to do with him now. There’s plenty of scope, I see him as a mid-130s to 140s handicap chaser and that’s a nice enough type to have.
She’s a dude of a mare, she’s only 15-1 at best. She won three and was second in two last season. You can’t ask for more than a horse that tries and she loves the game and gives you everything. She’s only small but jumps for fun so she’ll go novice chasing and hopefully we can nick a bit of black type somewhere along the line.
Bumper Horses
All these horses have schooled over hurdles in preparations for hurdles campaigns if we don’t think we want to keep them in bumpers. They’re all schooling well.
He’s a full-brother to Willoughby Court and he’s just identical in every way. At the moment he’s raw and tall, but he’ll strengthen up as the season goes on. I’d imagine he’ll stay in bumpers this season and go hurdling next, but he appears to have all the ability and even similar behavioural traits that Willoughby has. Hopefully he’s as good.
I like him a lot. He got a nasty knock last season, injuring his hip, and at the time I thought he was a very good horse. He’s come back, he’s looks well and is going nicely. There are a few races I have in mind for him from the middle to the end of November.
Was ready to run last season but the ground didn’t allow it. He’s very good moving, probably the best moving horse in the yard. I don’t necessarily think he’s the fastest on all four legs but I think he’s a very able horse, with a high-cruising speed.
Very similar type, was ready to run but didn’t get a run. He’s a big, dark, strong horse, very powerful. Goes really nicely, no complaints with him and I’m looking forward to getting him out in about three weeks, a month, something like that. He’s a decent type.
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