NEW and exclusive Ben Pauling column on Willoughby Court, Barters Hill and much more

Twenty-four winners and counting - how do you reflect on the season so far?

We've obviously had a quiet couple of weeks, but there is nothing wrong with the horses at all. Our horses just tend not to thrive on the heavy ground we've been having.

I try my best to bring in quality animals, real athletes, and I’m not saying that horses that win on deep ground aren’t athletes, but it doesn’t always suit ours.

With that in mind, we’re just taking a mid-season pull for 10 days or so. There will be a few that I run but the majority will be given a couple of easy weeks now and then hopefully we’ll finish the season as we started it.

It’s been a great, great season so far and we need to keep that going.

Should we be keeping the faith with Willoughby Court?

I’ve had a lot more time to think about WILLOUGHBY COURT's Cheltenham run and if I’m completely honest he just didn’t really ever quite look to be as comfortable as he was at Newbury. At Newbury he was very fluent and it was an effortless performance where he had a bit left at the finish.

We knew how good Yanworth is but we thought we would be able to confirm the form and give him weight. He just didn’t really travel and you can put that down to the ground.

That’s just his third start over fences and that’s why I thought it was important to go and get experience around Cheltenham because it is just such a different track. It’s the ultimate test – the fences come at you quickly as you’re often on the turn and it’s not quite like a galloping track like Newbury. They have to be clever and quick and accurate.

He didn’t make an serious mistakes barring the fourth last and I’d be very, very confident now going forward with him with that experience under his belt. He’ll be a completely different horse come March. And undoubtedly, he has handled soft ground before, but he’ll be happier in the spring.

On Monday he found himself on the rail as Nico didn’t want to be any further out as the front two were jumping slightly right and to me it just looked like a horse still learning his trade and I think it’s testament to his ability and tenacity that he produced the performance that he did and was only beaten eight lengths.

He’s got every right to be going for some of the championship races over three miles next year, but he’ll be kept to the intermediate trip this time around.

I think the bookmakers have left him as one of the joint-favourites for the JLT at Cheltenham and that says it all really – everyone can see it maybe wasn’t his day but he’s still run a decent race.

The mistake didn’t knock him sideways and while it’s disappointing to get beaten when you have a horse like Willoughby Court, I have every confidence he will be very competitive come the Festival.

Is High Bridge well treated ahead of the Betfair Hurdle?

All I can say is that every time you think the handicapper’s got one wrong, nine times out of ten they haven’t. They’re very quick to chuck you up 10 or 12lb and you complain about that and when you only get stung 5lb for winning a Gerry Feilden you think gosh that was kind, so there you go.

I was thrilled he won, but they are not the tactics you would naturally choose to take with HIGH BRIDGE. He’s a big, galloping type with loads of gears and I believe if you’ve got one or two to aim at up the straight he’s a different animal altogether, but he toughed it out from the front anyway.

Because it wasn’t the most emphatic of wins it’s been reflected in his mark but after initially being left alone after Ascot he did go up 4lb for that run for standing in his box when Elgin won the Greatwood so in total it's a 9lb rise overall for his last two runs.

The Betfair Hurdle is 100% our aim. I don’t think he’s a horse that loves Cheltenham. I’m not saying he can’t run there but it’s not his track so he’ll go for the Betfair Hurdle and then maybe straight onto Aintree. I think he’s a flat-track bully. He’s out of a Guineas winner, by Monsun and you don’t get many of those over jumps, so you need to use their strengths as best you can and I firmly believe he’s a very, very good horse on a flat track.

I’d like to think he’ll be exceptionally competitive off his current mark in the Betfair Hurdle and Alex’s (Ferguson, jockey) claim is brilliant. He’s riding extremely well and has a great affiliation with the horse. He has ultimate faith in High Bridge and that is paying dividends with the horse’s confidence as well.

Is there another standout handicap hurdler we should be monitoring?

KILDISART is a horse I love.

Whether or not he really hits the heights this year, I think he’s going to be a lovely chaser. He did look very well handicapped off 128 and even though he's gone up 6lb to 134 following his Kempton run he must still have a chance wherever he goes next.

In hindsight, the winner that day was thrown in without a penalty and he clearly turned up again. Kildisart is a very nice horse to train who could certainly win a handicap later on in the season, but he is definitely a chaser for next season.

I was keen to keep him on soft ground to start with but I actually think he’ll bounce off a bit of good ground too. He definitely handles the soft, but he’s not a fragile horse and I don't expect to keep him on easy ground as physically he’s very sound.

What’s the big Cheltenham handicap plot this year?

Well, MARKOV has suddenly had his life made very hard in regards to the handicapper. I had one aim for him and that was the Close Brothers Novices’ Handicap Chase at the Festival and that’s now a 0-145 race so you’re probably going to have to be within around 5lb of the top to get in.

Last year (when it was a 0-140) I’d have been straight in, everything hunky-dory.

It’s quite apparent they’re trying to make these Festival handicaps as strong as they can and make it impossible to sort of handicap one into the race. It’ll be great because everyone in the race will be handicapped to a fair level and it’ll be a case of who has their horse in the best form on the day.

But that’s slightly annoying for me as Markov is up to 138 now. I like him and he’s definitely going the right way, but is he going to win off 138 now? I don’t know. I might be proved wrong but I have a horrible feeling that if he goes and wins off 138 then he’ll go up to a mark above 145.

So I’ll have to have a word with the handicapper and see what he thinks!

I’d love to sit on his mark and wait but it’d be touch and go getting in so we’ll have to run him. We’ll find a race in the next three weeks and see how we go.

He’s actually a half-brother to Willoughby Court and it’s amazing how much better he is over fences. If he gets in at Cheltenham, one way or another, then he’ll run a big race. He’s a huge improver.

You’ve a stack of quality bumper horses – who is the best of them?

I think NESTOR PARK’s Ascot form is actually very decent, despite the race not really working out since. Warren Greatrex’s Portrush Ted (the runner-up) is one they think a lot of but unfortunately I don’t think he’s the most sound of horses.

I think a lot of 'Nestor' and he is a horse that would relish soft ground. So he's going to be aimed at the Listed bumper at Newbury on February 10, and then he'll look towards Cheltennham or Aintree, where I'd love a bit of cut for him in the spring.

He's a big frame of a horse at the moment and won’t have too many races. Since Ascot I’ve done very little with him but I’m about to turn up the taps again and get him ready for Newbury.

He’s progressed at home and I loved the way he was headed before getting back up at Ascot.

I don’t really like the Champion Bumper at Cheltenham but if I've one hard enough for it then it'd probably be him.

HIDDEN GLEN is another bumper horse I like a lot and could also enter the frame for the spring festivals. Ignore his Ascot run the other day as he couldn’t handle the ground at all.

I'll look for a race for him on better ground and maybe use that as a prep for Cheltenham. He's a very talented horse and I've several other good, young bumper horses but most will be best in novice hurdles next season.

Is Barters Hill finally ready to return?

BARTERS HILL is very much on track for a return to action over hurdles this month.

He couldn't be any better at home. We took him away for his first piece of work away from home just last week and he needed it, but he was very good.

Daryl (Jacob) rode him and was very happy. There’s a race at Ascot on January 20 over two miles, three furlongs and a bit, which is an open handicap, and there’s a race the following day at Haydock which is over the extended two miles, six furlongs. That’s a 0-140 and he’s been dropped to 140 so it’s a very dangerous mark.

It would be asking too much to expect a horse who's beaten Buveur D’Air, Politologue, North Hill Harvey and plenty others to come back in peak form after injury but first time out may be the time to catch him.

I hope Barters Hill is still a very smart horse and if everything goes well he will remain in training and you'd be tempted with an entry in the Stayers' Hurdle, but if he’s not anything like the level he was at before his injury then he will finish.

He’s been a superstar to us and I’d never ask him to doss around in lower grade races. He doesn’t owe us anything.

Who else deserves a mention in the half-term report?

A HARE BREATH goes straight for the County Hurdle. He’s gone up to 145, he loves Cheltenham and there’s no two ways about it this horse will be brilliant on spring ground. He’s got so many gears, we still can’t find anything to work with him.

Winning at Sandown was lovely, we then considered running at Ascot but we thought better of it and we’ve got plenty of time to get him ready for the Festival. If I can have him in the same form then he’ll run a huge race.

I knew LE BREUIL would need his first run, that was fine, but I ran him up at Aintree on bottomless ground giving 16lb to a fairly progressive horse and I got that wrong.

He’s not the biggest horse and he came back a little bit subdued. He’s normally a flamboyant worker and the spark was missing but he’s back in great shape now after a quiet few days.

He could be dangerously handicapped for something like the Coral Cup. These handicaps are won by Graded horses masquerading as handicappers and that’s how I see him. He beat Benatar nine lengths last March without coming off the bridle so he’s got the form and hopefully he’s a horse we’ll be talking about a lot next year.

He could run in the middle of January but he might be best left on his current mark of 139 for one of the big races later on.

Something for the weekend, sir?

RAVEN’S TOWER may well run at Sandown. He doesn’t really enjoy this ground in truth but he’s in very good form and sometimes with him it’s more important to run him when he’s in good order and not worry about the going too much.

I don’t think CREEP DEBOIS will take up his entry but the two and a half mile handicap chase could be made for PERFECT PIRATE. He's a gutsy little horse and handles the soft, though the chase track at Sandown never gets bottomless.

The horse that finished second to him at Towcester has won at Ludlow since and the handicapper in that instance has said the favourite didn’t turn up, so only put us up 1lb.

Is Might Bite a certainty for the Gold Cup?

No.

He’s not at all. He has a fabulous chance but there are a few horses that have disappointed over the past few weeks – the likes of Sizing John – and they’ll be back.

These horses cannot turn up every single time and even these stars like Sprinter Sacre and Altior - even they have had days when they didn’t quite turn up and it was only the fact they were that much better than the others at the time that they were able to get away with it.

Horses need to be allowed these blips without people judging them too harshly and I firmly believe come March, Sizing John will be back to his best and Thistlecrack looks to be back on the right track too. It’ll be a fabulous race anyway.

And finally... have you made any New Year’s resolutions?

Give up smoking. I’ve done a couple of days so far so it's going well! I definitely needed to stop and this is my first big go – so if you see me lighting up on course somewhere make sure you let me know!

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