Marcus Townend paid a visit to the yard of Fergal O'Brien as he prepares for another exciting winter campaign with a strong team of horses to go to war with.
It has been a slower start to the season for the Fergal O’Brien team than in recent years but that largely reflects a change in the equine talent at his disposal.
O’Brien has had fewer horses to run during the summer and there has been a significant turnover with horses moving on or being retired. They have been replaced with owners re-investing in an influx of new, young talent that will be unleashed now the jumps season is really kicking into gear.
Last season the stable once again trained over 100 winners and topped the million pound mark but disappointment surrounded the Cheltenham Festival as a first victory still proved elusive.
Big hope Dysart Enos was ruled out of the Mares’ Novices’ Hurdle at the 11th hour, Crambo ran disappointingly in the Paddy Power Stayers’ Hurdle and Highland Hunter suffered a fatal injury in the Ultima Handicap Chase.
But there is excitement at what the fresh faces and rising talent at O’Brien’s Ravenswell Farm stables can achieve, especially with a new stable jockey at the helm after Johnny Burke took over from the retired Paddy Brennan.
"We are delighted to have Johnny. He is a very good jockey and communicator. Fingers crossed we can grow together," O’Brien said.
"We have so many horses this season who haven’t even run yet and I am really looking forward to it."
‘‘He joined us from Gordon Elliott and has only had one run when we were disappointed after he finished unplaced in a handicap hurdle at Ayr in April. He will go novice chasing now."
"He was favourite for the Welsh National last season but it never happened for him - that race has been a graveyard for me. Paddy had him in a lovely spot down the back but he probably ran a bit free in the heavy ground.
"He is only eight and was a big weak horse but he seems much stronger this time. He started his season with a third in a novices’ hurdle at Worcester in October. The plan is the Sefton Chase at Aintree. Johnny got a great spin off him when he was tenth in the Scottish National and felt that would be a good race for suit him."
"His final races last season, the Stayers’ Hurdle at Cheltenham and the Liverpool Hurdle at Aintree, were obviously disappointing but Noel Fehily found he had a couple of niggles and issues with his back and he has come back looking great.
"Cheltenham wasn’t a terrible run – he was beaten 14 lengths – and he never had the run of the race, getting trapped on the rail. I don’t think he could have won but he could have been a bit closer if he had had the rub of the green.
"He won us a Grade 1 last season with the Long Walk Hurdle at Ascot and I don’t see any reason why he can’t do that again this season. He stays hurdling and he will probably start off in the Long Distance Hurdle at Newbury in November.
"We have considered novice chasing and he jumps well but we won’t go down that route until we are forced to. He is a Grade One winner and, despite the two below par runs, there is no need to panic just yet."
"He has never had the rub of the green. He will go over fences now. He bumped into a nice horse trained by Nigel Twiston-Davies called Potters Charm in a maiden hurdle at Worcester in September."
"He is owned by Middleham Park and is going novice chasing. Last season he was only beaten by a lovely horse of Jonjo O’Neill’s on his bumper debut at Carlisle before disappointing in his first hurdle race around Chepstow.
"He then went to Wincanton and hosed up before going back there and bombing out. We are hoping fences will make a man of him."
"She suffered an over-reach three days before the Cheltenham Festival. It is something she had done in the past but not for probably two years. It still hurts a bit. She was in great form and had done all the right things but that is sport, not just racing. You can do all the right things and still not come out on top.
"It was lovely to see Jeremy Scott win the Mares’ Novices' Hurdle with Golden Ace. I know Dysart Eno beat her in the Mares’ Bumper at Aintree the previous season but I had said at preview evenings going into the Festival that I thought she was the one to beat. I had been very impressed when she won at Taunton.
"That is in the past now. Dysart Enos will start off in the Greatwood Hurdle at Cheltenham in November. Off a mark of 131, if she is anywhere near where we think she could be, that is the place to start.
"We will roll the dice and then we can see where we go from there, stick to handicaps or go for mares’ races. She is back and in great form. She is full of speed and versatile ground wise."
ESPRESSO MILAN
"A well-bred horse who was bought as a store. He will start off in a bumper and it shouldn’t be long before he runs."
"He is very fragile and he does take a bit of managing. He had a long time off after he won his first bumper at Wincanton and another long time off after he won his second under a penalty at the same track.
"He was fantastic at Aintree when he won the Grade Two bumper. I was devastated when I saw Tripoli Flyer was getting beaten but my daughter Daisy said, ‘Don’t worry, your other one has beaten him!’. He came from last place and it was a fantastic ride from Connor Brace.
"He will go novice hurdling but we haven’t picked a path yet. He has been schooling well and obviously has a big engine. When he turns up he will be spot on but you couldn’t plan three races in a row for him. As he gets older he will get stronger. He looks like he has a bit of stamina."
"He is another new one that has joined us and is a lovely horse. He ran in bumpers for John Reddington, finishing third at Southwell. He will go over hurdles."
"He is another lovely new one who finished third on his debut for us behind one of Dan Skelton’s at Chepstow in October. He will go over hurdles now."
"He is owned by the Megsons and won a bumper for us on his debut at Warwick. He looks an exceptional horse. For a four-year-old to do what he did in the way that he did it against horses who had won or run well in point-to-points, including a Dan Skelton-trained runner-up, was impressive.
"He had never even been on grass. He looked a bit green on the bend turning in and had to go through a tightish gap but once he got through Kielan (Woods) gave him one little slap and he took off. What was impressive was how far he got down the far side before he could pull him up.
"We will stick to bumpers with him. He looks a speed horse. We will probably look at the Newbury bumper in February and then maybe Aintree in April."
"Is he another Crambo? I don’t know but he won us a Grade 2 hurdle last season – the Newton Novices’ Hurdle at Haydock – and he was very consistent having been asked to dance a few dances.
"He didn’t run a bad race when 10th to Iberico Lord in the Betfair Hurdle at Newbury, which was his first run in a handicap. We have always felt he wanted a trip so we stepped him up to 2m 5f at Kempton in March and he won.
"He will go down the same route as Crambo last season. He will start at Aintree in October and if he runs well there he will go to Haydock for the valuable three-mile handicap hurdle at the Betfair Chase meeting. He is built like Crambo – stocky – and he is an exceptionally quick hurdler.
"Liam Harrison schooled him the other day. He has a lot of experience but he said you can’t believe how quick he is over a hurdle with his feet."
"I love him. He is an Irish point-to-point winner who finished fifth in a very good Ascot bumper in November and second to a nice horse of Olly Murphy’s at Wetherby in March.
"I pleaded with owner Chris Giles to buy him back at the sales at the dispersal sale for his horses in July. We bought him back for £60,000 and if Chris hadn’t bought him again I would definitely have found someone for him.
"It was always the case we were buying him back and Chris had first dibs on him.
"He is a future three-mile chaser and Chris knows that and can see the bigger picture. He will start off at two and a half miles in a novice hurdle in the middle of November and we will see how we get on."
"I am really looking forward to seeing him over fences. We fancied him for the Grade Two Persian War Novices’ Hurdle at the start of October and it was disappointing he only finished fourth. He ran his race too early and that was that. Chasing looks his game."
"We have had a bit of luck in the past with horses we have bought from Jim Bolger. He was highly tried there running in Listed and Group 3 races on the Flat. He is four and a beautiful horse. He has done a bit of jumping and he looks a proper hurdler. We really like him and he is likely to make his hurdling debut around Christmas time."
"Another exciting one who is owned by the Megsons. He won a Sandown bumper in February but then it didn’t really happen for him when he was unplaced in the Champion Bumper at the Cheltenham Festival as he got upset in the paddock.
"His whole race was gone but we have taken him away a couple of times – throwing him on the lorry when we have only had one runner at meetings. He has been very good so we will crack on over hurdles and see how we go. There is no big plan for him but he will be running soon."
"It didn’t work out when we sent her for the Grade1 Honeysuckle Mares’ Hurdle at Fairyhouse in March but we think she suffered an overreach fairly early on and struck into herself which didn’t help her.
"She is going to go over fences and will start off in a novice handicap at Carlisle.
"She did exceptionally well last season, winning three times. When she won the Grade 2 Jane Seymour Novices’ Hurdle at Sandown in February, the horse back in third was Smiling Getaway who won very nicely over fences at Ffos Las earlier this month (October).
"She looks like a chaser so hopefully she can do well."
"I do like him. He will probably stay over hurdles this season as he is only five. He finished fifth on his seasonal comeback at Wetherby over two miles but I think we will see improvement in him when he steps up in trip."
"He was beaten in the mud on his first run when Paddy [Brennan] nursed him round and he did well to finish fifth at Chepstow. The owner has shown a lot of patience.
"We then went to Lingfield when we thought he would like the all-weather surface. The rumours were that Nicky Henderson’s horse Kingston Pride couldn’t be beaten, and he won subsequently, but our horse was very good in beating him.
"He was very green at Aintree. I think he got to the front and got a bit of stage fright and looked about a bit. We will keep that in mind. We have him pencilled in for novice hurdle at Ascot on November 2. He has a lot of speed and is definitely a two-miler at the moment."
"He won three for us last season, including two handicap chases at Kelso. Johnny got a good feel off him at Aintree when he was second to Captain Morgs in a three mile, one furlong handicap chase.
"The idea is to go back to Kelso at the end of October. He is a staying chaser but he wants nice ground and a flat track."
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