We all tend to put a value on what we haven’t got. Talking to a West Indian friend, Mrs Oakley, a foodie to her core, envied her the fresh pineapple, mangoes and bananas of her Caribbean childhood compared with our post-war canned fruit. ‘Oh no,’ said her friend, ‘it was the rare canned fruit treats we yearned for.’

Through the final weeks of the fading Flat season, I yearn too for the mud-spattered glories of the full jumping season, contests as much about courage as class. The sleek speedsters contesting million-pound prizes at the Breeders’ Cup in Keeneland were a fine international spectacle, but for me there was no comparison with Al Dancer’s win by a nose the same day over Aintree’s Grand National fences or with Frodon’s gutsy all-the-way win in the Badger Beer Handicap Chase at Wincanton.

This winter will be especially intriguing. How long will Fergal O’Brien manage to stay at the top of the trainers’ table as the big-money boys move into action? How well will Joe Tizzard do having taken over the training from his wise dad Colin? So far he seems to be flying. Will Sam Thomas and Christian Williams, both like Joe former riders for champion trainer Paul Nicholls, continue to churn out big Saturday winners?

In putting together 12 horses for readers to follow through the winter campaign I have ignored the superpower yards who will supply many winners and horses that might win championship races at the Cheltenham Festival partly because such horses won’t run that often but also because the stars will be written about everywhere and priced accordingly by the bookies.

Let’s start with Aucunrisque, a gutsy hurdles winner last season for Chris Gordon who looks to have his best team ever. Jonjo O’Neill, too, looks to have extra quality young horses this year with the likes of the 270,000 guineas Saint Davy, Mellificent and Springwell Bay. From his team I choose Iron Bridge, a bumper winner in Ireland who won a Carlisle chase impressively. From a Fergal O’Brien shortlist including Marble Sands, Peking Rose and Go To War I will include Manothepeople, an impressive winner of a Chepstow novice chase. Donald McCain mops up races on the northern tracks and in goes his Maximilian, a quality bumper winner who collected on his hurdles debut, while from Sam Thomas’s winners this season I pick Our Power. Sam says he is streetwise off the Flat and will never win by far but he won well at Ascot. Ruth Jefferson’s Sounds Russian won at Kelso in October and was a close second to the classy Dusart at Ayr last year. He should win a staying handicap chase. Mel Rowley, who does well with her horses at Aintree, looks to have a useful prospect for mares’ races with Blue Beach, a bumper winner who was a good second to a Jamie Snowden winner at Worcester on her seasonal debut.

We must have two from Ireland these days and I will go for John McConnell’s Encanto Bruno, already a Cheltenham winner, and Emmet Mullins’s So Scottish who won at Carlisle in October. Milton Harris is a trainer to watch and should do well with Scriptwriter, who ran well for Aidan O’Brien on the Flat. I have to include Nicky Martin’s Bear Ghylls whom I selected last year but who was not rushed back into action after minor injury. He resumed well enough behind the classy Beauport in a Carlisle novice chase. I am sure, too, that Dan Skelton’s Midnight River will add to his victory in a Stratford Handicap Chase.

Fortunately those who take an interest in our Twelve to Follow should be embarking on the winter dozen with some cash in their pockets. Of the dozen recommended in May, one never reached the racecourse but of the 11 who did, eight won races. Their 15 victories (plus seven seconds and three thirds) included some significant triumphs. Ralph Beckett’s Westover, after an unlucky third in the Derby at Epsom, went on to win the Irish equivalent. John and Thady Gosden’s Emily Upjohn was one of the unluckiest losers ever of the Oaks. Stumbling on exiting the stalls and dropping to last, she recovered sufficiently in Frankie Dettori’s hands to contest the lead through the final two furlongs only to go down by a short head to the brilliant Aidan O’Brien filly Tuesday. Emily Upjohn made handsome amends by winning the Fillies and Mares Stakes at Ascot on Champions’ Day. Honourable mention must be made, too, of Michael Dods’s improving sprinter Azure Blue who won for us on four of his eight runs and of Joseph O’Brien’s Above The Curve whose two victories included a Group One success at Longchamp. William Haggas’s Hebrides and Andrew Balding’s Spirit Mixer were other dual winners while Hughie Morrison’s Mrs Fitzherbert and Hugo Palmer’s Rajinsky also made the score sheet.

The Twelve’s 46 trips to the racecourse on the basis of a £10 win bet every run left us with a decent profit of £59. Thanks to all of them.

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