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Horses to Follow 2024/25: Charlie McCann's 10 to Follow
The new national hunt season is here, and our resident expert Charlie McCann is on board to bring us his 10 horses to follow for the 2024/25 jumps season.
There's a range of interesting names on the list, worth following, so make a note, add to your tracker and hopefully the next time you are looking at horse racing betting sites, you are armed with as much information as possible to help you out.
As ever, if you are coming back, then we will always offer a range of free bets and betting offers for those looking to find a new betting site.
Horses to Follow 2024/25 - Charlie McCann's 10 Jumps Horses
Check out the list below to see the Charlie McCann 10 horses to follow list.
Dysart Enos
- 6-year-old mare with Fergal O’Brien
The unbeaten Dysart Enos missed both major spring Festivals, but I recommended her for both the Dawn Run at Cheltenham, where she was found to be lame on the morning of the race, and the Grade 1 Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree where she was withdrawn on account of unsuitable soft ground.
The latter must have been a marginal call by connections given she had won a Cheltenham Novice Hurdle on soft ground back in December. The horse who finished runner up to the mare at Cheltenham Beat The Bat did not race again last season but is reported back in training for Harry Fry and looks a useful prospect himself although he will need campaigned over further than the minimum trip and has chasing as an alternative.
She only had three hurdle starts last term and her Bumper form is superior to her hurdles form to date. Dysart Enos beat last season’s Dawn Run winner Golden Ace by nine lengths in the Aintree Mares’ Bumper of 2023 and the promising Queens Gamble, subsequent listed hurdles winner, in receipt of 4lbs at Market Rasen in a listed Bumper.
She will have a new jockey this season with Paddy Brennan retiring in the spring and Johnny Burke will be in the plate when the mare reappears. Connections are reported to be eyeing a crack at the Greatwood Hurdle back at Cheltenham in the Paddy Power Gold Cup meeting in November.
The top-weight in the 2023 Greatwood Hurdle ran from a mark of 140 and the apple of Fergal O’Brien’s eye is currently rated 131. While connections may want to get a run into the mare prior to Cheltenham, they will not want to pick up a penalty if they are to make the valuable handicap their primary early season target. The mare is currently a top price of 14/1 with Bet365 for the Mares’ Hurdle at the Festival in March but makes no appeal at those odds in what is potentially a very strong division especially if Lossiemouth remains in mares’ company and swerves Constitution Hill and the best of the rest of the geldings most of whom will be her stablemates!
Brighterdaysahead
- 5-y-old mare with Gordon Elliot
Brighterdaysahead lost her unbeaten record in the Dawn Run Mares’ Novices Hurdle in March when beaten a length-and-three-quarters by Jeremy Scott’s Golden Ace. I remember the race well as I recommended Dysart Enos, another Horse To Follow this season, and must have received five messages on the morning of the race all saying the same thing: Brighterdaysahead is a machine.
She was backed into odds on favouritism at Cheltenham and I know there were many in the Elliot camp who thought she was a stone bonking certainty. As it happened, I am not convinced she lost anything in defeat given Golden Ace looked a more natural two-miler and Brighterdaysahead put the record straight when sauntering away from the boys to win the 2m 4f Grade 1 Novices’ Hurdle at Aintree on her final start of the season.
That was not the strongest of renewals of that Grade 1 contest, but she blitzed her field to the tune of seven-and-a-half lengths. Given she is only a 5-year-old I presumed she would stay over hurdles this term with races such as the Hatton’s Grace and Aintree Hurdle over the intermediate two-and-a-half-mile trip a couple of likely targets.
That will not be the case, however, as Gordon Elliot confirmed in the summer that the mare will be sent over fences this term. She certainly has the size and scope for the larger obstacles and, if all goes well, it will be fascinating to see if connections go the Mares’ Chase route at Cheltenham – as short as 3/1 – or whether she will take on the geldings in either of the Novice Chases’. She is currently 12/1 for the 2m 4f Turners and 25/1 for the 3m Brown Advisory. She is an extremely exciting prospect.
Dubrovnik Harry
- 8-y-old gelding with Harry Fry
News emerged earlier in the week that the G1 Turners’ Novices Chase at the 2025 Cheltenham Festival would become a handicap for novice chasers with no upper ceiling to its rating. I welcome the news although I did think Harry Fry’s Gidleigh Park looked an ideal candidate for the original race.
Regular readers will be aware how highly I rate Gidleigh Park and Fry made a big mistake running his star novice hurdler in the Albert Bartlett back in March. He had little chance of staying that 3m trip prior to the rains arriving, but zero chance when the ground turned heavy. I am often critical of Fry’s placing of his horses, and this was a prime example.
Gidleigh Park should have an excellent season over fences and is an exciting recruit to the chasing ranks but another horse from the yard who I feel has more to give this term at a lower level is Dubrovnik Harry.
Considered an exciting prospect as a novice hurdler, the eight-year-old has had a few problems in recent years and has only made the track three times in each of the last couple of seasons. That said I thought he ran his best race for some time when third at Sandown over hurdles when last seen back in March.
Fry has the option of running his charge over fences where he is rated 2lbs lower than his hurdles mark. He looked hardly a natural when third at Exeter on chase debut, however, when he was slow and jumped out to his right although that was over an inadequate trip 2m 3f+ trip.
He did run well at Cheltenham on his reappearance last season, but his best form is going right-handed with plenty of cut in the ground. He is unlikely to be seen until the winter ground has arrived, but the hope is that he can exploit his current mark of 126 over hurdles or 124 over fences.
Given his preference for a right-hand track, it will be no surprise to see him return at Exeter or Sandown and the expectation is that he can make up for lost time this winter. This is a big season for the yard who finished last term well with three winners at Cheltenham’s two-day April meeting, but their top-class mare Love Envoi retired, she should never have run in the Mares’ Hurdle, after the Cheltenham Festival and the stable have struggled for consistency in recent years.
Gidleigh Park will be the flagship for the yard this term, but I hope to see Dubrovnik Harry win at least a couple this term. I would suggest he will likely start over hurdles. I am convinced that he is better than a mid-120s horse.
Git Maker
- 8-y-old with Jamie Snowden
Git Maker only won one of his four starts last term but ran another couple of excellent races in defeat including when a 28/1 second – beaten 8L - to subsequent Grade 1 winner Inothewayurthinkin in the Kim Muir at Cheltenham where he had the third a further 18L away.
I recommended Git Maker in the Kim Muir and for much of the race I was on good terms with myself although he was, ultimately, readily brushed aside by the Irish handicap blot. He backed that up by finishing third in the Scottish National off just a 1lb higher rating and, surprisingly, he has been left on the same mark for the start of the 2024/25 season.
The Welsh National would appear the obvious early season target for the 8-y-old who is at his best with plenty of juice in the ground and I do feel there is a bit of mileage left in his current mark of 133.
The Snowden yard landed the Coral Gold Cup with Datsalrightgino in 2023 and there was a time when I thought Git Maker would have the necessary class for those top-class staying chases. He has shown more stamina than speed, however over fences and the Grand National may enter calculations if he progresses as I hope he might this term.
Unibet are the only firm offering prices on the Coral sponsored Welsh Grand National – surprising that the sponsors do not – and they should be applauded for that although they have one of the most ridiculous prices in the history of oddsmaking.
The race is invariably run with at least some give in the ground and Kinondo Kwetu – who needs fast not good ground to be seen at his best – is priced at 16/1. I have checked and they have not missed out a couple of noughts. It is laughable, but in fairness to them they have Git Maker four points bigger at 20/1.
Whilst I am not recommending taking the 20/1 at this stage, there are several shorter in the market who have no chance of facing the starter – let alone winning!
Hasthing
- 7-y-o gelding with Jonjo & AJ O’Neill
Jonjo & AJ O’Neill’s Johnnywho was highly tried but only won one of his five starts over hurdles last term. I expect him to make a better chaser than hurdler and, while he may stay three miles in time, he is likely to start over two-and-a-half miles and I could easily see him ending up in the revamped novice handicap chase at Cheltenham in the spring.
He looked a non-stayer over three miles at both Cheltenham (Albert Bartlett Grade 1) and Aintree (Handicap Hurdle from a mark of 136) although he had looked as if he would relish the step up in trip when beaten two lengths by Captain Teague, another exciting recruit to the novice chasing ranks, in the G1 Challow Hurdle at Newbury over Christmas.
There is plenty of stamina in his pedigree and he will get a trip in time. I would not mind seeing him on some decent ground given his half-brother Doing Fine enjoyed good or faster ground although he has only been campaigned with plenty of cut to date.
He has been raised 2lbs since Aintree so will begin the campaign off 138 if connections want to go down the handicapping route. JP McManus will, as ever, be keen to juggle his army of potential novice chasers on both sides of the Irish Sea.
They include Hasthing and he is nominated in our Ten To Follow ahead of his stablemate because he looks extremely well handicapped at present from a mark of 119 and expect him to take full advantage of that lowly rating in the months to come over hurdles or, more likely, fences.
Hasthing beat Ben Pauling’s Pic Rock comfortably giving that rival 6lbs at Catterick back in January, yet the latter ended the season from a mark of 132. Hasthing carried my cash when sixth – 7L behind Pic Rock – in the valuable 2m 4f Novice Handicap Hurdle at Sandown on Imperial Cup Day when he travelled best of all but fell into a hole coming to two out.
While that reverse was hard to stomach, he did travel like an extremely well handicapped horse, and he has the size and scope to make a much better chaser. The Jonjo O’Neill yard have been consistently inconsistent in recent seasons, and they have lost their knack of getting one ready for the big day – last Festival winner in 2021.
The hope is that the addition of son AJ O’Neill to the training licence will bring about a change of fortunes at Jackdaws Castle. It was a toss-up between the two, but Hasthing makes the cut.
Monty’s Star
- 7-y-old gelding with Henry De Bromhead
Monty’s Star was no match for the brilliant Fact To File in the G1 3m Brown Advisory Novices’ Chase at Cheltenham back in the spring, or for Spillane’s Tower in the Punchestown equivalent, but I do feel he is a genuine Cheltenham Gold Cup contender.
He looks to have inherited more stamina than his half-brother Monalee – fourth in the Gold Cup in his pomp - and has more in common with the same connections Minella Indo who landed the Gold Cup in 2021 and finished third in the Grand National back in the spring.
Make no mistake this is a vintage period for staying chasers in Ireland with dual Gold Cup winner Galopin Des Champs, Gerri Colombe, Fact To File, Inothewayurthinkin, Fastorslow, Spillanes Tower, Corbett’s Cross and Grand National winner I Am Maximus all top-class or potentially top-class in the division. That said I do feel there is a big race in Monty’s Star this term and I will be disappointed if he did not snare at least one Grade 1 or 2 this winter.
Monty’s Star has only had the eight career starts and while I appreciate, he has a bit to find with Galopin Des Champs and Fact To File at the very top of the tree, I do feel he is open to considerable improvement this term. He may fall just shy of the absolute best in his native Ireland, but I wonder if connections will consider a trip across the Irish Sea for something like the Charlie Hall at Wetherby, the Many Clouds at Aintree, or the Cotswold Chase at Cheltenham in the New Year.
He is currently rated 152 and perhaps connections will consider a tilt at the Coral Gold Cup at Newbury, a race often targeted by the leading second-season chasers.
A fast fluent jumper of a fence, in another era I would be all over Monty’s Star at 25/1 with Bet365 for the Gold Cup. This really is a vintage crop, however, and the Cheltenham Gold Cup of 2025 looks likely to be a race for the ages.
Diamond Ri
- 5-y-old gelding with Joe Tizzard
Despite not hitting the heights I had hoped for in his first season over hurdles, I expect Diamond Ri to flourish this term especially if sent over fences despite not turning six until the New Year.
He reminds me of the stable’s JPR One who never quite fulfilled his initial promise over hurdles but improved for the switch to fences last term winning in Grade 2 company and now rated 149 over the larger obstacles.
Diamond Ri impressed when winning his sole Bumper at Warwick on soft ground last March and his sole win over timber also came at the Midlands track. His two disappointing runs came when racing right-handed and it is possible that he will prefer racing anticlockwise.
I had almost given up on the horse prior to an excellent second in a decent novice hurdle at Cheltenham on good ground back in the spring. That form is already working out well and we now know that he is versatile regarding underfoot conditions.
After just five career starts there must be a chance that connections will stick to hurdles this season although everything about him screams chaser. He is currently rated 128 over hurdles but he will prove better than that in time. Interestingly one of his half-brothers Pencilfulloflead (rated 150+ over fences) needed soft ground to be seen to best effect while another Rare Edition (rated 137 over hurdles) appreciates a sounder surface.
Diamond Ri is selected in the hope that he is sent chasing sooner rather than later. He has an excellent record fresh, is unbeaten in two starts at Warwick and connections now know he handles a sound surface. When the stable has been hot, they have been extremely hot in recent seasons, but there have also been prolonged periods when they have been quiet at best.
The Tizzard stable has always been a yard I have had a soft spot for with Native River, Cue Card and Thistlecrack to name but three out of the very top draw, but in recent years horses such as War Lord, Lostintranslation and The Changing Man have failed to scale the heights many, myself included, expected of them.
Diamond Ri can leave his current mark of 128 well behind when making the switch to fences but, even if connections decide to stay over timber this year, he can still win his share of races over hurdles. He remains an exciting prospect.
Isaac Des Obeaux
- 6-y-old gelding with Paul Nicholls
Paul Nicholls has an embarrassment of riches in the novice chase division this term with Captain Teague and Caldwell Potter likely to be at the very top of the pecking order, but they hold more obvious claims to Inthewaterside and Isaac Des Obeaux and it is the latter who I feel could be worth following this winter.
Isaac Des Obeaux won a couple – both at Chepstow – of his six starts over hurdles last season but always struck me as the type who would improve again for the switch to the larger obstacles. Soft ground clearly suits – both wins with plenty of cut – and he may have found the ground a shade too quick when third to Gidleigh Park in a Grade 2 Novice Hurdle on good to soft at Cheltenham on Festival Trials Day.
He was coming back at his stablemate Knowsley Road over three miles at Taunton on his final start and handicap debut and, as he matures and learns to settle – has been keen in the past – I would expect him to need at least three miles going forward.
Nicholls faces a challenging task keeping his potential top-class novice chasers apart and Isaac Des Obeaux, who runs in the famous Denman colours, is owned in partnership by Ged Mason and Sir Alex Ferguson who are also involved in Caldwell Potter for whom they forked out the princely sum of E740,000 out of Gordon Elliot’s yard back in February.
Isaac Des Obeaux has won three of five starts at Chepstow, but you would not imagine he will begin his campaign at their initial two-day October meeting given his love of soft ground. He has the size and scope to make up into a much better than chaser and I am of the opinion he can leave behind his current hurdles mark of 133.
Beneficially Yours
- 6-y-old with Donald McCain
A winner of his sole point in his native Ireland, the gelded son of Milan fetched £80,000 at Cheltenham Sales last February and won two of his three novice hurdles for Donald McCain last season.
His sole defeat came on debut over 2m 1f at Carlisle back in December, and he improved for the step up in trip when scoring twice subsequently at Gosforth Park over their extended two-and-a-half-mile trip. Those wins were gained on heavy ground by an aggregate of eighty-seven lengths under Brian Hughes but, as a son of Milan, there seems no reason he won’t be at least as effective on a sounder surface. Note his facile point win came on yielding (good to soft) ground.
He has been given what looks a lenient opening mark of 120 over hurdles and his excellent handler is likely to exploit that mark before sending him over fences. McCain has the option in running in novice hurdles until the end of October, but he is more likely to exploit his attractive handicap mark, and the Grand National winning trainer has the option of sending his charge straight over fences in a novice handicap.
Beneficially Yours will get three miles and possibly more in time although his astute handler has suggested he will keep him to the intermediate 2m 4f for his reappearance. I appreciate he has not beaten a horse of note in his three novice hurdles, but he looked a dour relentless galloper when making all at Newcastle on both occasions earlier in the year and I expect him to end the 2024/25 season with a mark nearer 140 than 120.
His seasonal reappearance is eagerly anticipated.
Primoz
- 6-y-old gelding with Lucinda Russell
When Primoz won on hurdles debut at Ayr in November, he had I Love My Baie – now rated 130 – five lengths back in second with the 2023 Aintree Bumper winner Florida Dream – now rated 125 – a further length away in third.
He first came to my attention on the morning of the race as Tom Scudamore was making his debut I think on ITV’s The Opening Show. I was sweet on the chance of Florida Dream and was surprised that Scudamore confidently nominated Primoz for his £20 challenge. The gelding was well supported on the back of Tom’s confidence before drifting back out to 15/2 from 7/2 on the show.
Connections blamed soft ground for the two subsequent disappointing runs for Primoz although he did win his final start of the campaign when scoring at the Scottish National meeting from a mark of 117. He goes into this term potentially very well handicapped from 123 and is reported to be going chasing this term over two or two-and-a-half miles.
Primoz finished second in both points prior to joining Russell and cost £150,000 at Goffs horses-in-training sales last May. He has the scope to become a much better chaser than hurdler and connections look sure to exploit his potentially lenient mark.
