Ruby Walsh: five key talking points for the 2025-26 Jumps season

Can Willie make it three British trainers’ titles in a row? There is no reason why he can’t but, that said, winning the last two has mainly hinged on winning the biggest prize, and in the season just gone, he got the lion’s share of the prize money on offer for the Randox Grand National. And he needed it. Whatever your thoughts are about the changed version of the sport’s most iconic race, banking a season-long campaign on one race is a risky model, especially a handicap chase. Backloading your squad for the major spring festivals is a winning formula, though, and just like in Ireland, the best prize money on offer is concentrated into the showcase festivals in the latter third of the season. Britain doesn’t have a Galway Hurdle or Plate-sized pot in the summer either, so it takes many horses to build a summer tally to give any trainer based there a decent head start. 

Trainers are creatures of habit, none more so than Willie Mullins, but a King George raid and the odd visit to Ascot could help him earn the £360k his placed runners got in the Grand National. He could win the Grand National for a third year in a row, but getting five in the first seven again is a remote outsider, so a little more thought will need to go into the defence of his crown. 

Sean Bowen is not a million miles off setting AP McCoy fractions in his bid to retain his champion jockey crown and, at the time of writing in mid-September, he had finished in the first four on 198 of his 287 rides through the summer months. His current strike rate of 27% is also AP-like, and his monthly ride rate should see him take roughly 850 rides for the season. That is down 50 on his total last season, but his improved strike-rate, if he can  continue it, would push him over the 220-winner mark for the season and continue his upward trend as the dominant rider in Britain. Over the last five seasons, his yearly tallies have risen year-on-year (68-94-125-157-180) which is a positive sign and, as he reaches his peak years at 28 years old, he could dominate for the next seven or eight seasons. Tactically, his riding last season was a joy to watch as he mastered the art of pace and judgement, which now match his flair and hunger. The upward trajectory of his primary employer, Olly Murphy, has gone in tandem with Sean’s rise, and the quality of their stock should see them compete even more on the weekends. Still, Saturday is only one day of the seven Sean will be competing, and you want him on your side when looking for winners. 

The big names are ramping up for the winter season, and Paul Nicholls has been in the press plenty of late. Ninety-nine winners is hardly a poor return on a season’s work, but it’s easy to tell he wasn’t satisfied. 

He has stated on more than one occasion that he feels his horses were never quite on fire last term for a reason he can’t explain but, obviously, he is seeing something different in Somerset this autumn. Any yard under a bit of a cloud tends to end up with horses who are well handicapped when the tide turns, and if Paul’s string catches fire in mid-October, they could have any amount of talented horses who are ahead of the BHA handicapping team. 

He is sure to take aim at all the major pre-Christmas race-days, and if his string is back to where he wants it to be, then it should be a lucrative time. 

Rocky’s Diamond had already made a successful debut over fences in Ireland when he landed a beginners chase at Galway on September 9. Seeing 154-rated hurdlers transitioning to chasing before the Listowel Festival has normally been the exception. 

But, while we all rightly assume most of the bigger guns won’t appear on the racecourses until November, it is worth noting that Solness won a handicap in Listowel last September. Colcannon beat Heads Up in a bumper in Galway in October, Haiti Couleurs ran at Chepstow’s first meeting, and The Wallpark, Potters Charm and Jazzy Matty, to name a few, ran at Cheltenham all before the clocks went back. Gordon Elliott will hit his straps first in Ireland, Willie Mullins won’t rock until Punchestown in late November, and Nicky Henderson will emerge around Newbury and Fighting Fifth time. Still, others will start their season earlier in perceived calmer waters, and there will be talent spotted long before the obvious ones appear. 

The changes to the Cheltenham Festival had a positive impact on the competitiveness of the racing over the four days in March, but changes also alter patterns, and a few jumped out at me. I know the sample size is too small to make certain statements, but that doesn’t mean one shouldn’t pick up on the clues, and the changes resulted in three second-season novices – Jimmy Du Seuil, Karees and Wodhooh – winning the three handicap hurdles, which didn’t require a qualifier for you to compete. Three novices won three of the four open handicap chases and a fourth, Johnnywho, was unlucky not to complete a clean sweep for the novices in the Kim Muir, so they are still the ones to be with, and both novice handicap chases have already thrown up big-race winners. 

Caldwell Potter went to Aintree to score at Grade 1 level following the middle-distance Jack Richards Novices’ Chase at the Cheltenham Festival, and Haiti Couleurs, Captain Cody, and Resplendent Grey went from the National Hunt Chase to major spring glory. Handicapping is a system; therefore, all will play it to make the most of it. Follow the talent as it will come to the fore at some point, especially new blood in a new sphere.