Ben Pauling enjoyed a stellar campaign last year and has an exciting crop of talent at his disposal as the jump season starts to take centre stage.

Pauling enjoyed 75 winners across the 2023/24 campaign, with the highlight undoubtedly being Shakem Up’arry’s success in the Trustatrader Plate at the Cheltenham Festival.

Shakem Up’arry’s love for the game is still as strong as ever and Pauling, who is based at Naunton in the heart of the Cotswolds, hopes there is more to come from him as he enters the twilight stage of his career.

“He gave us a brilliant day last year, he’s been amazing that horse, he’s 10-years-old believe it or not,” he said.

“Hopefully he picks up where he left off, but now he is eligible for the veterans' chases, so we will probably look at a couple of those before bringing him back into open handicaps.”

There was almost double Festival success for Pauling when The Jukebox Man powered six lengths clear in the Grade 1 Albert Bartlett.

He was narrowly headed in the final furlong but he remains a hugely exciting prospect who will tackle fences this year.

“He ran a nice race in the Challow to finish third and got chinned in the Albert Bartlett,” Pauling said.

“He went and ran another good race at Aintree. I don’t think it was a mistake, but I don’t think he necessarily needs three miles.

“We’ll probably start him towards the end of the month at Uttoxeter and might head to Newbury and go from there.

“He’s a horse we think is very good and hopefully he’ll be a top-class novice chaser.”

Pauling has big hopes for his novice chasers, with many exciting horses tackling fences for the first time.

“Handstands will go to the Rising Stars Novice Chase at Wincanton,” said Pauling.

“He’ll go there first time out, he’s a very talented individual, he won the Sydney Banks as he liked.

“When he went to Cheltenham, he had run in point-to-points early season, and he had been on the go a long time, so I think he just felt the effects of a long season. On his best form he’s very exciting.

“Pic Roc will also be going chasing, he’s a big horse, hurdles get in his way a bit, hopefully a fence will bring out the best in him. We seem to have a lot of strong novice chasers, and he will be near the top of them.

“Personal Ambition as well, he obviously won the Grade 2 at Kelso, he jumps for fun and will go chasing. Another exciting horse.

“Leader In The Park is a very good horse, we thought the world of him this time last year, didn’t quite become what we hoped he would.

“But we found a little niggle at the end of the season, and he’ll go novice chasing and start off in handicaps.

“He could be one to scale the ranks very nicely and hopefully become a proper horse for the season ahead.”

The contingent of horses Pauling has is filled with potential and Grade 2 bumper winner Diva Luna perhaps could be the horse with the highest ceiling.

He added: “She is a very talented filly, 2-2 in Bumpers – she’ll go novice hurdling and start somewhere small before going to Newbury in the Listed Mares’ Novice in November. Hopefully the sky is the limit, we like her a lot.”

Valuable prizes beckon as the season unfolds and another top hurdle prize is on the agenda for Champagne Twist.

“He will stay hurdling and will run at the November Cheltenham meeting; there is a 0-140 over two and a half,” Pauling said.

“There is an outside chance he could be a big improver, running himself into the better staying hurdles later in the season. We’ll see how we go.”

As ever there are horses that fly onto the radar from out of nowhere and Pauling gave a few horses to keep an eye on this season.

“There is a horse called Legal Weapon, he’ll start in bumpers in November, Hawkstonian will be up there and Halrisk Des Obeaux is nice too.”

Story courtesy of SportsBoom, visit https://www.sportsboom.com/betting/horse-racing/