The pool of jump horses

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Len Madeiros

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I know that some of the horses that we see day-to-day in the winter come from either the flat or are imports from France, but are some horses specifically bred for a career over the Jumps? I'm thinking of the ones we see in bumpers - first intro to a racecourse; too big and heavy to have ever had a career on the Flat. And why do some horses still come from the Flat, when there is an ample living to be made on the sand these days?

Thanks for any responses.
 
can add the likes of poliglote and flemensfirth to that list recently, to name a couple off the top of my head.
 
Current 2014 NH list - FWIW I think Westerner has a huge future.

STALLION WINNERS–RUNNERS WINS RUNS 2ND 3RD 4TH WIN PRIZE TOTAL PRIZE
King's Theatre 86–221 39% 133 646 104 68 60 £1,069,828 £1,439,748
Presenting 81–303 27% 110 810 96 92 89 £536,199 £886,907
Oscar 49–237 21% 70 598 71 71 69 £534,950 £776,988
Milan 49–223 22% 63 581 69 62 52 £535,612 £751,801
Beneficial 47–242 19% 62 666 62 95 77 £466,246 £679,617
Flemensfirth 43–214 20% 52 482 63 53 48 £290,535 £518,022
Westerner 30–119 25% 39 317 35 36 26 £348,060 £429,040
Old Vic 27–132 20% 31 344 37 36 42 £224,990 £355,003
Kayf Tara 36–178 20% 43 356 40 46 36 £234,923 £346,699
Definite Article 28–97 29% 41 308 41 34 30 £203,814 £306,350
Vinnie Roe 22–72 31% 30 241 25 29 27 £199,762 £272,659
Montjeu 13–38 34% 22 136 24 9 15 £159,339 £270,145
Shantou 19–75 25% 28 182 21 23 16 £172,825 £265,481
Gold Well 15–51 29% 21 135 25 12 14 £146,928 £251,734
Gamut 7–43 16% 11 124 10 10 16 £206,293 £246,028
Dom Alco 11–31 35% 11 53 6 9 6 £212,031 £245,336
Dr Massini 21–81 26% 26 249 18 16 22 £168,630 £244,989
Danehill Dancer 6–21 29% 11 72 8 8 11 £173,019 £236,872
Anshan 9–49 18% 12 145 11 13 20 £162,110 £215,881
Generous 21–71 30% 26 211 33 24 18 £146,010 £214,945
Galileo 19–46 41% 22 132 12 17 14 £171,863 £208,264
Heron Island 25–66 38% 31 180 15 23 18 £153,374 £202,283
Scorpion 11–47 23% 20 103 11 5 10 £141,325 £179,002
Alflora 15–88 17% 21 195 28 21 26 £111,971 £178,480
Golan 8–67 12% 11 172 20 15 15 £102,015 £170,688
Karinga Bay 8–55 15% 12 149 19 14 12 £71,621 £162,503
Cloudings 16–54 30% 18 151 17 19 14 £109,790 £160,947
Alderbrook 13–56 23% 16 156 12 9 10 £106,781 £160,313
Fruits Of Love 15–54 28% 17 168 26 16 19 £91,823 £157,839
Brian Boru 17–72 24% 23 181 17 23 17 £107,003 £155,793
Bob Back 4–30 13% 4 72 9 8 7 £121,448 £154,535
Winged Love 15–58 26% 18 123 14 16 13 £92,521 £148,148
Stowaway 11–37 30% 12 109 11 7 10 £116,178 £142,875
 
Some horses just do not like the sand.
some flat breds like softer going that they are more likely to encounter in winter.
Some flat breds take time as in years to mature. Take Apache Gold who only came to himself this year aged six. He is too small for NH and would need a horse box to stay 2 miles in any case.Dual purpose horses are the life blood of many owners and trainers and if a flat horse can jump at speed and enjoy it you could have the next Istabraq or Hurricane Fly or Binocular or Red Rum or Grittar.
Which is best is a matter of taste pure and simple; some prefer the old fashioned type, some the French some NZ breds , some German and so on.
 
Len Madeiros said:
I know that some of the horses that we see day-to-day in the winter come from either the flat or are imports from France, but are some horses specifically bred for a career over the Jumps? I'm thinking of the ones we see in bumpers - first intro to a racecourse; too big and heavy to have ever had a career on the Flat. And why do some horses still come from the Flat, when there is an ample living to be made on the sand these days?

Thanks for any responses.
Click to expand...

Many dont go on the sand simply coz the owners are upstanding citizens.:p
 
Some very good flat horses among the NH sires, and I see Alderbrook there, too. So he won a CH, tackle in tact?

Separately, if a horse is saved for a career over jumps and never sees a racecourse until about 4/5, how economic is this?
 
Not very !
Hence the guys that have them tend to have very very deep pockets and their trainers always complain about how little money they have compared to their flat counter parts.
A great story in Tom Dreaper's biography tells of himself and vet Maxie Cosgrove at the sales in their twilight years when a big backward store horse enters the ring.
"You should buy him Tom"

" Maxie ! A big old boat like him?"

"Why yes. Turn him out in a field and give him time ."

"Maxie, what good has time done for the two of us ?"

Remember horse like Brown Lad were seven before they saw a racecourse. In his case it was worth the wait however.
 
Agree with Aragorn on Westerner - seriously good sire of NH Horses, particularly on decent ground.

Would also add Saint Des Saints to the list - probably the best NH sire in France.

Martin
 
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