MID to late-October is a great time of year to be looking forward, with the weather already beginning to feel wintry as a reminder that the switch from flat to jumps seasons starts in earnest this weekend. To mark this rite of passage, I thought it was appropriate to throw together a list of horses to put in the notebook/tracker, being a mix of promising youngsters on the level and racefit jumpers, who should pay their way in the coming weeks.

Seaplane (Paul and Oliver Cole)

Sir Martyn Arbib has had some smart stayers in his time, with Snurge proving a remarkable first foray into ownership, winning the 1990 St Leger as a maiden and providing Paul Cole with his first Classic winner. Since then, the Arbib colours have been carried to pattern race success by the likes of Salmon Ladder and Strategic Choice, and more recently by Sumo Sam, winner of the Lillie Langtry Stakes and the Park Hill Stakes (often called the Fillies’ St Leger) last year.

Sumo Sam is out of the unraced Seaduced, herself a half-sister to Arbib’s smart dual-purpose performer Stag Horn, and she has produced another promising individual in the shape of Seaplane, who looks a tremendous staying prospect for next year, after a wide-margin maiden win at Newmarket (seven furlongs, soft) recently.

Prior to winning at Newmarket, Seaplane was reeled in close home in a well-contested maiden won by Calla Lagoon (more of him shortly) at Ascot, with subsequent Epsom winner Too Soon, who contests the Zetland Stakes this weekend, back in third. I thought the first three from that contest were all worth following and, while Seaplane is probably more of a long-term prospect than the winner, he impressed with how well he maintained a strong gallop in tough conditions at Newmarket, and has stamina aplenty in his pedigree.

Winning at seven furlongs must go down as a huge bonus for this unfurnished son of Golden Horn. He’s entered in the Futurity at Doncaster later this month, and would be of interest if the ground was very soft, but it’s when tackling a mile and a quarter and further next year that he should be in his element.

Calla Lagoon (Ralph Beckett)

Winner of the Ascot maiden in which Seaplane was second, Calla Lagoon has seen that form franked with the placed horses both impressive winners since, and the son of New Bay did well to win, having met with trouble in running when first making his effort. Tracking the runner-up on the rail at Ascot, he was looking for a run with two furlongs left, but met interference from the weakening Winston’s Warrior and had to delay his challenge as a result. A furlong out, it looked like Seaplane would win having got first run, and that colt didn’t stop, but Calla Lagoon quickened well on dead ground to pick him up close home, and looks a top-notch prospect at a mile on that evidence.

As well as the second and third, there has also been a success for Ascot’s beaten favourite Isambard Brunel, who won well at Navan on Wednesday, and it’s always encouraging when a race with obvious depth on paper begins to work out so well. Calla Lagoon has an entry in the Futurity (as does Isambard Brunel) and – while the shape of that contest is hard to envisage at this time – looks the sort who would be suited by the long straight at Doncaster, and I’d be encouraged if Ralph Beckett took him there, given he also has the highly promising Angelo Buonarroti engaged.

Matchadam (Tom Lacey)

There is no British trainer more adept at playing the handicap system with hurdlers like Tom Lacey, who follows the path utilised by Sir Mark Prescott on the flat, running staying prospects (often with promising point-to-point form) over inadequate trips before giving them a break and capitalising on a lenient opening mark when handicapping, with significant run-to-run progression.

Matchadam very much fits the mould of the archetypal Tom Lacey hurdling prospect, being a point-to-point winner who showed plenty on one bumper start before three down-the-field runs in novice and maiden hurdles and, like a few before him from this yard, he’s been handed a very lenient mark judged on his bumper form.

His point win came for Lacey’s head lad Eamonn Donnabhain at Larkhill, where he got up to win by a short head, despite looking green and his lack of form over hurdles is of no concern given how the likes of Camembert Electric, Fox’s Socks, Tune In A Box and Lossiemouth have landed gambles on handicap bow having previously been unsighted.

Matchadam failed to win on his recent handicap debut at Southwell over an extended two miles and seven furlongs, but that race on lively turf was nowhere near the test of stamina that he likely needs, and I expect him to improve plenty on a respectable third place, with softer ground and a true gallop likely to show him in a much better light.

Matchadam is owned by Stephen Macauley, whose father Dennis bred Champion Hurdler Brave Inca, and it’s worth noting that Colm Murphy’s star won the Supreme Novice having started his season by winning a handicap hurdle off a mark of 93. It’s perhaps asking too much to expect Matchadam to rock up at Cheltenham in March, but I’d not be at all surprised to see him run up a sequence.

Zariygann (Michael Halford and Tracey Collins)

Two flat runs as a three-year-old in the colours of owner/breeder the Aga Khan marked Zariygann out as the sort with scope to progress granted a test of stamina, but of even more interest is the fact that he’s a Sea The Moon half-brother to high-class hurdler/chaser Zanahiyr.

Zariygann was switched to hurdles at Roscommon in August and, backed from 11/2 into 5/6, bolted up by 19 lengths after jumping well on the whole, and he improved on that, again impressing with his jumping, when beating hotpot Gaucher by six and a half lengths at Listowel. He’s taken time to strengthen into his frame, but he really fills the eye, and this strong, robust sort can make up into a leading novice hurdler at around two miles.