Four Tricky Trainers To Follow For The New Jumps Season

It is that time of year again when the rains arrive and the top national hunt horses start to reappear. All roads lead to Cheltenham for the likes of Nicholls, Henderson and O'Neill but there is usually very little value to be found in backing their horses throughout the season. There are plenty of smaller operations that are more than capable of readying one, and below are my four tricky trainers to follow for 2015/16.

SUE GARDNER

Sue Gardner will not be a name familiar to the vast majority of casual racing fans, but she is a trainer that does very well with a small string, and indeed one of her horses went close for this blog at 20/1 on Saturday at Cheltenham (Here's Herbie). She has a habit of popping up with massive priced winners, and is one to watch out for at her local track Exeter, where she loves to have a winner (16/107 +24.33).

Her daughter Lucy rides most of her horses, and is well capable of getting the job done. When Micheal Nolan is booked it pays to take note as he has ridden plenty of winners for Gardner and the same applies to Matt Griffiths. She has a couple of nice horses to work with this year (Here's Herbie, Only Gorgeous, Tea Time Fred among others) and if you like backing double figure priced winners Sue Gardner is a trainer well worth keeping an eye on.

BEN CASE

Edgcot handler Ben case is another trainer that overachieves given his limited resources. He hasn't had the best of times over the last couple of months, but when his horses do hit form watch out! The winners usually come thick and fast when Case gets going, and he is not afraid to take on the big boys when he has the ammunition.

He usually saves his best horses for the big Saturday meetings throughout the Winter, and he has had a couple of notable winners on big days, including Croco Bay last November who won by nearly 20L at Ascot and Deep Trouble who won a listed handicap at Sandown. His horses are usually overpriced and he is a dangerous man in handicaps as he knows how to get one well treated. He is another trainer worth watching this season.

THOMAS GIBNEY

Readers of the blog will be familiar by now with this Kells based handler who trains The Nutcracker, a mare I have tipped up a couple of times before. He has done extremely well with limited resources and won the Irish Grand National with Lion Na Bearnai just a few years ago. His stable star was sent off 33/1 that day, and he also won at an even bigger price on his previous start beating three Gigginstown horses at Navan. Orpheus Valley also won a big handicap at the Punchestown Festival at 28/1 so the proof is there that Gibney can get one ready for the big day.

Both his stable stars are getting on a bit now, but he has some new recruits to work with and one of his most promising horses, Balnagon Boy, made a very encouraging return to action today at Punchestown on his first run since 2013. The Nutcracker has scope to improve, while Stoughan Cross is well capable of winning a handicap of his current mark.To Choose will also be competitive in handicaps, both on the level and over timber, Balnagon Boy is the one to watch though, and his pedigree suggests he will be of interest when stepping up in trip. He could be the star for Gibney this season.

SANDY THOMSON

This Scottish trainer is as shrewd as they come and does exceptionally well with very limited resources. He first came to my attention back in 2013 at Kelso. Regal Encore was a horse I had followed from debut, and he had finished 3rd in the Champion Bumper. He was 1/4 to follow up his maiden hurdle win with a novice victory, but ran into a horse trained by Thomson who beat the Honeyball horse easily. Seeyouatmidnight was sent off at 66/1 and proved it was no fluke when following up at 22/1 in a novice next time (I backed him that day!) hacking up by 10L.

He subsequently was sent off at 6/1 for a Grade 2 at Haydock and again won. The bookies had no respect for Thomson, but unfortunately they are a bit more wary of him now, especially up North. His maiden/novice runners are always worth keeping an eye on though, especially any that have point to point experience. If you fancy one of his don't let the price put you off. As the exploits of Seeyouatmidnight showed Thomson is not averse to having a big priced winner. One to look out for in the coming weeks is Spirit Of Kayf, who ran a lovely race in a bumper at the weekend. He is well bred and should be well up to winning races in the future.