Forgotten Horses Set To Return This Season

This blog is all about looking through some of the best horses we have seen over the past few years that have been off the track through injury or have been forgotten about due to bad performances and remembering why they are so good.

The first horse we want to bring back to your attention is Jessica Harrington's Sizing John the now nine year old gelding owned by the well known pots family has not been seen on a racecourse since being pulled up in the Savills Chase at Leopardstown at the back end of the 2017 season.

It was in that year that Sizing John became one of he greats of the sport landing the Gold Cup Trio when he went on to win the Leopardstown, Cheltenham and Punchestown Gold Cup consecutively.

Having finished second behind behind Douvan for most of his career, Harrington stepped him up in trip and that was the move that made him the horse we all remember him being and his trainer believes he can get back to somewhere near his best.

The trainer has had to be exceptionally patient with the gelding, with injury after injury halting his progress on the national hunt scene over the last two years which has seen him miss the last two Cheltenham festivals and we hope this season he will be able to give a title defence at the Cheltenham festival.

Unlike many jumps horses, Sizing John has been kept extremely busy during the off season with a huge rehabilitation plan set up for him to get him back to where he needs to be for the upcoming season and if his trainer can do this the 2020 Gold Cup has to be in the offing.

He looks as if he will start his season off over hurdles to get a fell for the sport again and then the Harrington camp will make further decisions from there.

The nine-year-old trained by Willie Mullins was out for the entirety of last season, and has not been sighted since finishing second to stablemate Un De Sceaux in last seasons renewal of the two-mile Grade One Champion Chase at the Punchestown Festival.

That was his first defeat in Ireland in the colours of Susannah and Rich Ricci, but the dual Cheltenham Festival winner has been blighted with problems since fracturing his pelvis in the 2017 Champion Chase - where he was sent off the 2/9 favourite.

Problems to his leg before a tendon issue has limited him to just two starts in the last two years, but the horse branded as 'the best Willie Mullins has ever trained', could spearhead his attack on the prestigious season-ending Irish Festival.

Douvan is a two time Cheltenham festival winner landing the Supreme Novices Hurdle and the Arkle Chase the year after and overall landing eight black type wins during his career.

He is one of the most special horses to grace a racecourse and if Mullins can get him back to his best this season and getting a bit of luck with injuries, he could bounce back this season.

He goes under the forgotten horse bracket for his time off the track but you have to be very foolish to forget his ability.

The final horse on the agenda is Nicky Henderson's 2017 King George VI Chase winner Might Bite who even at the age of 10 years old could make a comeback to his best this season.

2017 was a remarkable year for the gelding seeing him land the pinnacle in his jumps racing career with the King George and then finishing a valiant second in the Cheltenham Gold Cup.

The son of Scorpion has landed four black type wins during his esteemed career but last seasons campaign showed none of these signs seeing him continuously struggle in races he had eaten up the year before.

His trainer could not work out what was wrong with the chaser and after pulling up in the Gold Cup was rested for the rest of the term.

He is said to be back in rude health at home and in what is sure to be his final season on a race track there is this feeling that he could surprise many and get back to his form of old.