National Hunt Racing Tips: Five Horses & Jockeys To Watch

on October 18, 2022 at 7:00 am

Here we have horse racing tips and predictions ahead of the National Hunt season, with the horses and jockeys to watch.

Gold Cup winning jockey Robbie Power spoke to BoyleSports this week to get his view and help customers when placing their bets. Check it all out below!

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HORSES TO BET ON THIS SEASON

When you look at last seasons novices, Constitution Hill will be very interesting going forward over hurdles.

Hopefully at Cheltenham in March 2023 he’ll clash with Honeysuckle in the Champion Hurdle and that’ll be one of the best heavyweight clashes we’ve seen in a long time.

You’ve also got the question of whether Galopin Des Champs will step up to be a Gold Cup horse. If he progresses from what we’ve seen as a novice chaser it could be hugely exciting to see him step up to three miles and face the likes of A Plus Tard. It makes for a fascinating season ahead.

THE JOCKEYS AND TRAINER TO FOLLOW

Obviously you’ve got the big combinations in Ireland and I think Jack Kennedy has taken on a more predominant role riding for Gordon Elliott and he’s had a fantastic summer.

I think it’s a given that Paul Townend is going to be champion jockey with Willie Mullins but Jack has actually built up quite a useful lead.

If he can stay injury free then it would be no surprise to me if Jack is top jockey and nobody deserves it more because he’s been plagued with injury over the last few season, so I’d love to see him have a clear run this year.

LOOK AT THESE NATIONAL HUNT UNBEATEN SPECIALS

Owners Robcour seem to have a strong team – who are you most looking forward to seeing?

Robcour have a really strong team going into the winter and I think a horse that could develop into a nice chaser is Journey With Me.

He was really impressive when winning his maiden hurdle and hopefully he can develop into a nice middle distance chaser.

Can Bob Olinger develop into a Gold Cup horse?

I think Bob Olinger can develop, yes. He needs to put his two disappointing runs behind him but he’s only been beaten once over fences. He’s got bundles of class and he could very easily make a huge progression.

Is National Hunt Racing as strong as it’s ever been – is the sport’s long-term future healthy?

I definitely think that the future of the sport is looking healthy. We’ve got some very good owners in National Hunt racing in Ireland and the best horses are staying in Ireland at the moment.

The prize money is exceptional and these weekends of competitive racing make it even more enticing for owners to travel over and watch their horses run over one weekend rather than being spread out over multiple weekends.

Do you feel the dominance of Irish-trained horses will continue this year ahead of the Cheltenham Festival?

I don’t see the Irish-trained dominance continuing forever but I certainly do for the next few seasons and that’s down to a combination of things.

Irish owners and trainers have been winning in the sales ring and the saying is that if you win in the sales ring, you’ll win on the track.

Bringing all this competitive racing together will make it even more enticing for English owners to train their horses in Ireland because the prize money is so unbelievable and it’ll be easier for English owners to commute to Ireland and watch their horses over one weekend.