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Timeform's Horses To Follow for the 2024/25 jumps season: Two runners this week
Read a couple of extracts from Timeform's Horses To Follow involving two horses with entries this week.
Sans Bruit
Entered in the BetMGM Haldon Gold Cup Handicap Chase (Exeter, Friday)
Sans Bruit may translate as ‘without noise’ but we are very much expecting this bold-jumping front-runner to make his presence felt in a two-mile handicap chase division that is perennially the weakest.
Sans Bruit, a useful sort over hurdles and fences in France for David Cottin, disappointed in a couple of handicap hurdles on his first two starts for Paul Nicholls. However, he shaped much better in a handicap chase at Chepstow where he was only denied by three-quarters of a length after impressing with how enthusiastically he travelled.
Sans Bruit had raced on the heels of the leaders at Chepstow but, ten days later at Aintree, was allowed to stride on in the Red Rum Handicap Chase and produced a powerful display to score by four lengths. Propelled by a series of slick jumps, Sans Bruit was able to gallop his rivals into submission and he found plenty under Bryony Frost to see off a dangerous-looking challenge from Saint Roi, who was then only narrowly denied in a similar event at the Punchestown Festival.
Frost attempted to replicate the tactics that had served Sans Bruit so well at Aintree when the pair were reunited at Ayr only nine days later, but her mount failed to jump with the same fluency and ultimately weakened into third. Sans Bruit was hassled for the lead at Ayr, which may have contributed to the more untidy round, but it’s also possible that his big effort at Aintree had slightly taken the edge off him. Either way, he’s better judged on his performance in the Red Rum.
Sans Bruit was placed in a Grade 2 over two and three-quarter miles for David Cottin in France but has looked much more about speed than stamina since joining Nicholls and he has all the tools to suggest he’ll win more valuable handicaps at around the minimum trip. Paul Nicholls
Bucksy des Epeires
Entered in the Boodles Novices' Limited Handicap Chase (Sandown, Sunday)
After an encouraging first season over hurdles for Venetia Williams following his purchase from France, Bucksy des Epeires looks set to embark on a successful career over fences this term in keeping with many from his stable before him.
He was lightly raced in France where he wore a tongue tie for all his starts as well as a hood on his debut, finishing second on both his completed starts when trained by Donatien Sourdeau de Beauregard. That left him eligible for novices in Britain and he got off the mark at the first time of asking for his new stable, in a maiden at Lingfield in November, despite being off the track for more than a year beforehand. After travelling well, he kept on to lead in the final 100 yards and just held on by a nose from Dan Skelton’s odds-on favourite Illico de Cotte with the pair of them finishing ten lengths clear.
Bucksy des Epeires progressed again when making his handicap debut in a valuable two-mile contest at Sandown on Tingle Creek day. The presence of Langer Dan at the top of the weights resulted in Bucksy des Epeires being 3 lb out of the handicap, though that was offset by conditional Ned Fox taking 5 lb off his back. Given that he was ridden more prominently than most, Bucksy des Epeires deserved credit for sustaining his effort as well as he did in the testing conditions, keeping on to finish three and a half lengths second to the useful Spirit d’Aunou.
For the remainder of the season he was returned to longer trips, though it wasn’t until his final outing at Ludlow in April that he showed something like his Sandown form after lesser efforts at Aintree and Ascot and a first-flight fall at Lingfield in between. At Ludlow, though, he got back on track, closing all the way to the line to be beaten a neck by outsider Legionar who held on to make all.
Bucksy des Epeires is by Buck’s Boum, a half-brother to Big Buck’s and best known now for siring dual Gold Cup winner Al Boum Photo, while his dam Maline des Epeires won all five of her starts in France, including three chases at Auteuil, showing useful form. A lengthy, angular gelding, Bucksy des Epeires could well prove just as good himself over fences. Venetia Williams
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