New Route for Cheltenham Favourite Shakem Up’arry, and “The Skies the Limit" for Diva Luna

Ben Pauling enjoyed a stellar campaign last year and has an exciting crop of talent at his disposal ahead of the upcoming jump season.

75 winners were recorded across the 23/24 campaign, with the highlight undoubtedly being Shakem Up’arry’s success in the Trustatrader Plate at the Cheltenham Festival.

His love for the game is still as strong as ever and Pauling hopes there is more to come as he enters the twilight stage of his career.

Pauling said: “He gave us a brilliant day last year, he’s been amazing that horse, he’s ten years-old believe it or not! Hopefully he picks up where he left off, but now he is eligible for the veteran’s chases, so we will probably look at a couple of those before bringing him back into open handicaps.

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

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

Pauling commented: “He ran a nice race in the Challow to finish third and got chinned in the Albert Bartlett. 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 at towards the end of the month at Uttoxeter and might head to Newbury and go from there. 

The team’s novice chasers could prove to be a cut above the rest this season, with many exciting horses tackling fences for the first time.

“Handstands will go the Rising Stars Novice Chase at Wincanton. 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.