Prominent jumps figures answer our questions about sourcing stock

The types of stock they would spend £100,000 on, up-and-coming sires to follow and the most important factors when buying stores - five handlers are put in the hot seat

Malcolm Jefferson

If we gave you £100,000 to spend, how would you source a horse? I would choose stores. They offer value for money and you can buy what you like to look at so you can get up in the morning and enjoy looking at them. Stores have always worked out very well for me.

Give us an up-and-coming sire whose stock have impressed youMalinas. We've got some very nice stock from him, including a lovely half-brother to Attaglance. His progeny are just starting to click. If you can access an up-and-coming sire in their second or third year, they can often represent good value, for example Presenting when he first stood. I was one of the very first to start buying into Accordion and we have had some very nice horses by him, including our Christmas Hurdle winner Dato Star.

Place these factors in order of importance when buying stores: sire, conformation, presence of black-type under first and second dam or other I look at the horse as an individual before I look at the catalogue page. If I like both I'll put my own value on before having a bid. Although I also look at siblings to those we have at the sales, but I would only buy it if I really liked it. I looked at a couple of Dato Star's immediate relations but I didn't bid for either as they weren't as nice as him.

Dato Star: Malcolm Jefferson one of the first to get behind his sire Accordion

Dr Richard Newland

If we gave you £100,000 to spend, how would you source a horse? Definitely not stores or point-to-pointers; I would choose a form horse - probably a Flat horse followed by a French import.

Give us an up-and-coming sire whose stock have impressed you Not up and coming but I am keen on Kayf Tara and have sent my broodmare to him; Craigsteel has impressed me as he is producing good, tough jumps horses.

Place these factors in order of importance when buying stores: sire, conformation, presence of black-type under first and second dam or other I don’t buy stores but I would focus on the mare and her racing achievements - if any - followed by her pedigree; the sire is clearly important; conformation would be the last consideration.

Nicky Richards

If we gave you £100,000 to spend, how would you source a horse? I'd probably go down the store route, and if possible I might advise buying two horses for £100,000. We used to buy nice form horses in France from £20,000 to £100,000 but that is impossible now.

With the overseas market wanting top-class staying horses off the Flat it's quite difficult to source form horses from the Flat. We buy the odd point-to-pointer but, as everyone knows, they're in such demand that the trade for them is unbelievable. Having said that, it all depends on what your owners' needs are. With store horses, the owners have to be very patient which is the only downside.

Give us an up-and-coming sire whose stock have impressed youGetaway is probably going to do very well as a National Hunt stallion, he stamps his progeny well and gets lovely stock. Another one is Champs Elysees. He started off as a Flat stallion but is now in Ireland. A lot of the Flat trainers loved the progeny's honesty and aptitude so I think he could be very interesting with proper National Hunt broodmares.

Place these factors in order of importance when buying stores: sire, conformation, presence of black-type under first and second dam or other Whatever budget you've got, the first and most important thing for me is conformation. If you don't have that you've got nothing. Then the price is usually dictated by how much black type is under the first and second dam. We always try to buy from a stallion that has a high percentage of winners to runners but, having said that, I still would take a chance on a young stallion if the conformation and price were right.

This year's Grand National hero One For Arthur, trained by Lucinda Russell, is a son of MilanCredit: John Grossick (racingpost.com/photos)

Lucinda Russell

If we gave you £100,000 to spend, how would you source a horse? I've always loved the Irish pointers; Scu [Peter Scudamore] and I spend many days at the points over there to get some feeling for the form and often we buy privately on the day of the race. However, the market is explosive at the moment, so to look for value we've also started buying two-year-old stores in France. They have strong pedigrees and are currently a realistic price.

Give us an up-and-coming sire whose stock have impressed youMilan has done us well and gets slow-maturing horses, who are strong and usually have relaxed temperaments. I also love Getaway and have been impressed by his youngsters coming through.

Place these factors in order of importance when buying stores: sire, conformation, presence of black-type under first and second dam or other For me the horses have to move well and cover the ground. This is usually the result of good conformation and, as we are looking to have a horse in training for many seasons, the better the conformation the more robust they will be. Then I follow sires and dams, but unless they are sound and athletes they will struggle to be winners.

Evan Williams

If we gave you £100,000 to spend, how would you source a horse? I wouldn't have too much to do with France, so would like to split it between a store, Flat form horse and a point-to-pointer. If I had that much to spend I would prefer to have three chances.

Give us an up-and-coming sire whose stock have impressed youMount Nelson. Now he's getting a few National Hunt mares, we should start to see his jumps stock improve, and the Boardsmill Stud team will give him every chance.

Place these factors in order of importance when buying stores: sire, conformation, presence of black-type under first and second dam or other Value. Nothing else counts as much in my book. If a horse has everything, we won't be able afford it, so value is the main factor for me.

Evan Williams: always on the lookout for valueCredit: Edward Whitaker

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