Twelve to Follow
Robin Oakley E‘ nough of these two-year-old babies and 4 ' equine whippets racing over the length of a few suburban lawns. Not a moment too soon it is time for hardier sorts and for the winter sport, for sturdy mud-stained limbs and exhaled breath hanging in dank November air.
First, though, some past business, and I fear that if I were reporting on Twelve to Follow Inc at an AGM there might be some rumblings from the floor about the chairman's stewardship of the finances. Apologies. On the basis of a £10 level win stake the accounts show a loss of just under £100 on the fortunes of our Twelve on the Flat this year. Between them they ran on 45 occasions and were in the frame on 26 of those, a pretty decent record. Godolphin's splendidly consistent miler Ramonti was the highlight, winning Europe's three best mile races, all Group Ones, twice at 5-1 and once at 9-2. Barry Hills's Spinning Lucy scored a couple of nice victories at the back end, one of them at 10-1. Cliché, Broomielaw and Colorado Rapid were winners, too. The snag was that the Twelve managed to finish second on no fewer than 11 occasions.
Tracey Collins's Dandy Man must have been the unluckiest horse in training. Rarely getting the conditions he needs, a decent draw or the run of the race and competing always in the very top class, he was second to Tax Free in the Naas Sprint Stakes, second to the Australian Ace Miss Andretti in the King's Stand Stakes at Royal Ascot and second by a head to Benbaun in an epic duel for the Flying Five at the Curragh. We wuz robbed.
Brian Meehan's Supersonic Dave was included because Jamie Spencer told me early on that he was the horse he was most looking forward to riding this season. At the time of writing Jamie has ridden 185 winners but Supersonic Dave wasn't one of them. What was that about jockeys as tipsters?
Now to repairing the damage over jumps, and I take it as a good omen that last week Don't Push It, one of last year's Twelve, won over hurdles at Chepstow and Leslingtaylor, a substitute member of last year's Twelve, won on his first outing for John Quinn over fences at Aintree. Leslingtaylor was, incidentally, given a beautifully judged and educative ride by Dougie Costello, a young jockey worth keeping an eye on.
Step one in the quest for winners is to peruse Timeform's painstaking and thoughtprovoking Chasers and Hurdlers 2006-07 (Credit card orders to 01422-3300540 or timeform.com/shop). Step two is to include horses from the Paul Nicholls winner-factory. The betting value may not always be there for his stars, like Twist Magic or such well-trailed hopes as the French newcomer Big Buck's and Predateur, who he reckons 'could be anything'. Try some lesser-known inmates of the Shepton Mallet yard.
I noted Paul saying of Be Be King after he won a novices hurdle at Warwick last January, 'He'll be a good two-mile chaser next year. That's his job.' And I also marked a star against Oslot after a Sandown Park handicap hurdle victory in April when his trainer declared that two and a half miles had obviously suited him, that he had plenty of pace at two miles and would go novice chasing. So let's start with Oslot. From the Nicholls hurdlers, I take Nodform's Paula, an impressive bumper winner when trained by Karen McLintock.
Two more interesting novice chasers are Ferdy Murphy's Negus de Beaumont and Osana, twice a contributor over hurdles to David Pipe's first-season total of 134 winners.
Ireland goes on producing good hurdlers and on my list after an early-season victory is Noel Meade's Muirhead, who won a classy Gowran Park bumper. Looking for an English hurdler to hold the Irish at bay in the top-class races I go for John Quinn's Blythe Knight. Like Sublimity, the Champion Hurdler we all overlooked last year, Blythe Knight was a classy horse on the Flat. Leslingtaylor goes on this year's list as well, whether he mixes hurdles and fences or stays over the bigger obstacles now.
Charlie Mann, whose Kanad won a decent Ascot prize last weekend when well ridden by claimer Kevin Tobin, looks to have a decent hand this year. His Air Force One was second to Wichita Lineman in the Spa Novices Hurdle at Cheltenham, but even more impressive was Mobaasher, third to Katchit in the Triumph Hurdle. He's the one for the list.
Over fences I like Carl Llewellyn's Dempsey. After he won at Sandown last backend his chirpy trainer wasn't too certain of future plans but he declared, 'That's 34 for the season. If anybody asks, my target was 34.' There will be more this season I am sure.
As for the Grand National, this year's winner Silver Birch is out for the year and the second, McKelvey, broke down, so my longterm hope is Tom Taaffe's Slim Pickings. He was third this year and Aintree horses tend to do it again.
For shorter handicap chases I was tempted to stay with Don't Push It, now with Jonjo O'Neill , but thanks to his unfortunate habit of shedding partners last season over the larger obstacles I will go with Copsale Lad as a handicap chaser. He deserves a change of fortune after a luckless last season. So, after all those seconds on the Flat, do we.
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