Never mind Keats’s mists and mellow fruitfulness, or even that glorious autumnal odour of wet dog — a regular accompaniment to my life thanks to our flatcoat retriever puppy’s arrival. The best thing about autumn is the return of the jumping scene proper with the big yards finally taking the rugs off their hotshot hurdlers and Cheltenham Gold Cup aspirants. The most fascinating question this season is how the mighty Altior, unbeaten in his 19 races so far, will fare now trainer Nicky Henderson and stable jockey Nico de Boinville agree that he should be tried over longer distances, with his first major target the King George on Boxing Day. Intriguing, too, is whether Nicky’s Buveur d’Air, a faller at Cheltenham in March, can come back and win his third Champion Hurdle at the age of nine.
The horse I was keenest to see back in action was Colin Tizzard’s Lostintranslation.
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