Horses to Follow over jumps this week including at Cheltenham, Carlisle, Hexham and Plumpton

Horse Racing

Mon October 19, 2026 · 3h ago

David Massey is looking forward to what is shaping up to a busy week on the jumps front, culminating in Cheltenham opening its doors for the season.

Strange week ahead for me.

Mrs M asked me yesterday what I would be doing over the next seven days and where I would be. In my head, I had a quiet time of it. “Nothing much, love. I will be at Southwell Monday night. Oh, and again on Thursday night."

Then, after a moment’s thought, “Then it’s Cheltenham Friday and Saturday."

“So, you’ll be home Saturday night?"

“Er, no. I am staying over and heading up to Aintree Sunday."

A pause.

“So, basically I’ll be lucky to see you next week?”

“Yeah, pretty much.”

A busier week than I first thought. Add in the usual writing assignments, trying to find a winner or three this week, a dental appointment, some blood tests midweek, and yes, it is not as quiet as I first imagined.

I think, in my head, that because it’s low-key on the jumps front until we go up a gear on Friday, I won’t have much to do, but I'm looking forward to the weekend and seeing how the ground at Cheltenham has settled down. All the forecasts are calling for a lot of rain, anywhere between 30mm and 60mm for Cheltenham, which will be very welcome and in the nick of time. What ground we will get, though, your guess is as good as mine at this stage!

Let us not jump ahead. We start the week at Plumpton, and its small fields all the way; not one race has an each-way shape to it, which is a shame.

The 14:30 is the Josh Gifford Memorial Trophy, and son Nick has a couple lined up in the shape of Eliza Doolittle and Gone Country. I think Gone Country has the better chance of the pair, but he might have to play second fiddle to the wonderfully named A Tickatickatiming (Sixties Icon out of Hi Note, here you go… Good Timin').

How she has won only one hurdle race is a mystery, but she can double her tally today, with the quick ground ideal for her and less demand on her stamina, the small one question mark against her. That said, one of her best efforts came over C&D when she placed second to Sea Invasion here a couple of seasons ago, and she was still cantering along on the bridle when unseated here last time out. I think today is the day she doubles her tally.

I fancy A Little Something will follow up her recent Fontwell win in the 16:00; she jumped much more assuredly than she has sometimes done that day, and it looks like she is really getting her act together. More to come from her over fences this year.

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You've got Mail at Hexham

Before we get to Cheltenham’s amphitheatre, we have the Northern version (yes, it is, go if you have not been) at Hexham on Tuesday. Jeriko Du Reponet has his first try for Ben Haslam in the Beginners Chase at 15:42, and the very best of luck to you if you are following him in, but my bet on the card is Lester Mail in the handicap hurdle at 15:07.

He went in the mythical tracker after his fourth at Kelso on his latest start, where he looked like a horse that had more to offer this year, outpaced a couple of times in the race, once at a key point that made him lose track position and forced him out wider than he probably wanted. That race has worked out well: winner Abbey Scope is going in twice more, and third Larkhall Lusive is a winner next time out too, so I have no qualms his mark is fair; it’s a case of whether he’s fit and ready to go on his first start since May. If he is, then this stiff 2m4f should suit, and win or lose today, is one to follow this autumn.

Worcester on Wednesday sees Inside Man take his chance in the 13:40, and I fancy he will do much better on his second chase start than he did on his first behind Gore Point at the end of last month. He looked very much in need of the run, never really getting involved after some sticky jumping early on, but he will have learnt plenty from that. Jane Williams is getting going now, a winner and four seconds from her last ten runners, and with Inside Man getting a very generous 3lb drop for the Newton Abbot run, this is a mark he can win off.

Fascinated to see if Toby Lawes’ Klimt Madrik takes his chance in the Beginners Chase at 14:15. I really liked him last year, and he has all the size and scope you’d want for the bigger obstacles; thrown in at the deep end on more than one occasion last year, he was one of the paddock picks for the Turners and was far from disgraced in finishing eighth. Really have high hopes for him...

We have also got The Flaggy Shore in the 15:25 Mares Novice Hurdle, another I loved last year, although her defeat in that Listed Sandown Mares Bumper was costly for me. However, she made no mistake at Ffos Las on her hurdles debut, jumping well and making all, and that gives us plenty of hope she will be more than useful this year.

'Carlisle ought to suit even better'

Carlisle on Thursday is one of those meetings where we cannot be entirely sure what the ground will be, but I would guess something just the soft side of good for now. Stuart Edmunds has been churning out winners for fun, and I have always been keen on his Paper Mill (15:02). Staying is his game, and he ground it out to win at Southwell last time. Carlisle ought to suit even better, and I have him down as a 135-rated horse before the season is done. He is also in at Cheltenham on Friday and would be of some interest if he went that way, too.

And the Panoramic Hurdle at 16:12 could be some race if the decs hold up. Golden Ace, Rubaud, Wilful, Madara, Burdett Road… I am currently looking at how far it is from my place to Carlisle. If I am disappearing for the week, I may as well do it properly.

And let me throw one at you for your trackers that is due to go at Ffos Las on Thursday too. Spanish Stroll (14:01) is everything I love about a Joe Tizzard jumps horse; he has so much scope for hurdles and will get better as he progresses, and I fell for him immediately when I saw him on his debut at Kempton last year. Green as grass, he clearly needed a bit of time, and although well held in a very good bumper at Newbury in March, he showed he has an engine, and I am very excited to see what he can do this year. He will need this, I am pretty sure of that, but I have high hopes.

And one for Cheltenham on Friday? Well, whilst I’m standing in the middle of a gale, the rain and wind lashing around me, I’m hoping to see Calico win the two-mile chase at 15:35 for the third time; this is very much his Gold Cup, he goes well fresh, and he’s a pound lower than his last winning mark, and as long as the ground is no worse than soft (and surely it won’t be, will it?) he is going to take some stopping.

See you all somewhere this week, no doubt!

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