Ten for the Flat

Robin Oakley

How to keep sane during an election which Labour’s Austin Mitchell aptly described as ‘like a funeral but without so many cars’? My way was to spend ten minutes every night with an annual treat, Timeform’s chunky little 1,224-page volume recording the potential of every horse which ran last season.

Racehorses of 2004 (available from Timeform, Halifax, West Yorkshire HX1 1XF at £70) proved, as ever, a cross between Holy Writ and Time Out, with elegant essays on crucial racing topics hitched to four-legged careers. Celebration of Halmahera’s third successive Portland Cup even included an obituary of the late William Foggitt, famous as an amateur weather forecaster with predictions based on the height at which rooks were nesting and the appearance of Scandinavian waxwings before a cold winter — the connection being that Halmahera is trained in Thirsk, where Foggitt lived.

In entries on Blue Canari, winner of the French Derby (the Prix du Jockey Club) last year, and on North Light, victor in the Epsom equivalent, Racehorses suggests French racing authorities have an inferiority complex about Epsom, which carries a much bigger prize. That is one reason, it surmises, why they have rushed into cutting the distance of the French race to ten and a half furlongs this year. Unnecessary, says Timeform: French trainers have not been deserting Chantilly to race at Epsom. Indeed, American Post was the only French-trained runner in the Epsom Derby for five years. And, with the Chantilly race producing champions like Peintre Celebre, Sulamani, Montjeu and Dalakhani, there is no way it has proved inferior to Epsom in recent years.

I only wish I had read my Racehorses of 2004 sooner than I did. Written months ago, it declared that, because Aidan O’Brien had saddled five beaten favourites in the 2,000 Guineas in recent years, the market had been slow to spot the potential of Footstepsinthesand, available at the time of publication at 20–1, and a convincing winner on the day at 13–2.

Attempting with the aid of Racehorses to put together a profitable Ten to Follow for the Flat, I anticipate a prosperous season for Luca Cumani. He now handles the Australian miler Starcraft, and his Alkaased was a hugely impressive winner of the Jockey Club Stakes at Newmarket. But I will go with his Italian import Le Vie dei Colori, who made a smooth start to the season at Leicester.

Clive Brittain took over sprinter Var, previously trained in America, and has transformed him into one of the fastest horses in Europe, winning the Prix de l’Abbaye last autumn, despite Var’s unfortunate welcome to Newmarket. A kick from another horse soon after his arrival, says Racehorses, took out a chunk of shoulder bone. Three months later, Var was kicked again in the same place, requiring 40 stitches. Let us hope he does even better with a less painful start.

Racehorses talks of British horseboxes queuing up at Dover like white vans on booze cruises and unkindly suggests that Michael Blanshard’s The Trader, winner of two French sprints last year, has something of the white van about him. ‘A poor mover in his slower paces, inclined to be sluggish early on, he has an awkward head carriage, but is capable of a surprising burst of speed when the mood takes him.’ Never mind the head carriage, watch the legs.

Among the two-year-olds I have noted Mikael Magnusson’s Peace and Love. An excellent fourth at Newmarket first time out when stumbling out of the stalls, he then won nicely at Kempton. And there are good reports of Andrew Balding’s Theatre Royal.

I claim no prizes for selecting Virginia Waters, the winner of the 1,000 Guineas, but we need one of Aidan O’Brien’s on our side and she looked exceptional. Third in the Guineas was Michael Jarvis’s Vista Bella, who was clearly still learning the business. From the Godolphin operation I will go for that consistent miler Firebreak, one of Frankie Dettori’s favourite horses, and a battler who always gives his all.

David Loder’s three-year-old Goodricke showed promise last year and won on his seasonal debut. And number ten is a handicapper from Nick Littmoden’s yard, Wavertree Warrior, who should improve after being gelded.

And what, you may ask, of our Ten over jumps? They, alas, proved two things. That it is hard to get a chaser regularly to the track and that when they get there they have to jump to win races.

Azertyuiop, Fundamentalist, Solerina, Royal Paradise, Secret Ploy, Our Vic, Murphy’s Cardinal, Clan Royal, Monet’s Garden and Sleep Bal between them raced 37 times for a total of eight wins. (They also managed seven second places and four thirds.) Our return to a £10 win stake was, alas, a mere £240, a loss of £130.

Azertyuiop didn’t last the three miles of the King George and pulled stomach muscles when third to Moscow Flyer in the Queen Mother Champion Chase.

Fundamentalist has been sidelined since injuring himself in January. Royal Paradise won twice, at 11–4 and 4–5, but then broke blood vessels when seventh in the Royal and Sun Alliance Novices Hurdle at the Cheltenham Festival. Murphy’s Cardinal, after three runs in select company, finished distressed at Lingfield in February and has been out since.

Our Vic took a crashing fall at the last when leading in the Bonusprint Gold Cup at Cheltenham in December. That obviously left its mark because he was pulled up in both subsequent races. Solerina won a couple in Ireland and Sleep Bal scored at Exeter. Monet’s Garden disappointed twice at Cheltenham but finally obliged at 11–2 at Aintree. The one that got away was Clan Royal. He was six lengths clear in the Grand National when at Becher’s second time around he was taken out of the race by two loose horses. We wuz robbed.