Timeform Features 
/ Jamie Lynch / 28 April 2011 / Leave a Comment 
Stoute and Moore feature among Lynchy's mythical 2011 Flat awards
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Timeform's Horses to Follow publication has made a flying start to the Flat season, operating at a 40% strike rate and a 20-point profit to level stakes. Jamie Lynch takes you through the highs and lows so far....
Rory McIlroy, Concorde, Blazin' Squad, dinosaurs, Wimpy, Macaulay Culkin, the Nazis, Big Brother, Great Leighs, Police Academy, asbestos, Freddy Adu. History is peppered with warnings that a powerful start doesn't always equal ongoing success, and, here at Timeform, we certainly aren't in the business of counting chickens before they hatch or horses before they win, but it's fair to say we're happy with the positive start by our Fifty To Follow, operating at a 40% strike rate and a 20-point profit to level stakes.
Every dog has his day, they say, and ours was Greenham day at Newbury. Okay, so we get no brownie points for Frankel, who's a publicity machine in his own right and will be all the more of a household name after Saturday, but there was profit to be made elsewhere on the Newbury card courtesy of Modun and Light From Mars. Billed as 'the new Redford' in his entry in Horses To Follow, Light From Mars duly landed a big handicap at odds of 14/1 on just his second start for Dandy Nicholls, who will soon be able to drop the word 'sprint' from his 'sprint king' title, while Modun's runaway win took even us by surprise, and he's an archetypal Sir Michael Stoute improver destined for Group company. Before that, though, there's another good handicap in Modun, the Duke of Edinburgh at Royal Ascot the obvious one, and nothing can stop him...nothing other than perhaps Sunny Game, similarly impressive on his return at Epsom last week.
Inevitably, however, it hasn't all been fun and sunny games, and it would be remiss of us to focus on the bullseyes when a few duds have been fired as well. As we say at this juncture every year, the Flat season is a marathon and not a sprint, and we've barely covered the first hundred yards so far, making it easier to excuse the horses who haven't immediately met expectations, but even so we were hoping for more from Fulgur, State Opera and Golden Hinde at the Craven meeting. All the same, the positives outweigh the negatives up to now, and we're in for a big weekend, hopefully with Havant making it a Guineas double the day after Frankel struts his stuff. Exciting times.
Given that these are indeed exciting times, and given that we are in the predictions market, why not go the whole hog? Football managers are forever emphasising the importance of 'taking each game as it comes', but where's the fun or expertise in that, and therefore here goes: let's cut forward seven months and prematurely hand out the 2011 Flat awards, admittedly with a bit of Horses To Follow bias in the results. Remember where you heard it first.
HORSE OF THE YEAR: (in the style of Michael Buffer) The reigning, undisputed, undefeated heavy weight champion of the world: Frank 'The Freak' Frankel. Unbeaten through his three-year-old career, the closest he came to losing his perfect record was in the Dante, which persuaded connections to swerve the Derby, despite 97% of people voting 'yes' in a worthless poll asking 'should Frankel go to Epsom?' However, Frankel recaptures the public imagination and admiration by subsequently winning the St James's Palace, the Juddmonte and the Irish Champion before spanking the Yanks in the Breeders' Cup Classic. Imagine that.
CHAMPION JOCKEY: Hanagan gives it his all again and gets twenty-six clear at one point in June, but thereafter Ryan Moore goes into overdrive to re-establish himself as the best in the business. Richard Hughes finishes only fourth this time (behind Neil Callan) but still wins the style award: is there a finer sight in racing than a folded-up Hughsey scything through a field?
CHAMPION TRAINER: Everyone's rooting for Cecil, and Frankel alone gets him close, but the old master Sir Michael Stoute transforms enough handicappers into Group horses to pip him, Conduct's win in the Champion Stakes the decisive act. By the way, don't forget that Workforce is still around.
LEADING SPRINTER: Bated Breath makes great strides in the sprinting ranks (please God), but it's Dream Ahead who deserves the award for his regeneration in the Sprint Cup at Haydock, when a bit of September rain makes all the difference to him. Obviously, we don't count the superior Aussies that turn up and leave the British sprinters for dead in the Golden Jubilee and/or July Cup. Same goes for that Hungarian speedball if he ever makes it over.
LEADING MILER: They never meet, but Frankel would have beaten Goldikova if they had: trust us. Goldikova boringly wins yet another Breeders' Cup Mile, but she isn't quite the same force aged six.
LEADING MIDDLE-DISTANCE PERFORMER: With Frankel not moving up that far, the remaining three-year-olds are much of a muchness, leaving the stage clear for the established older horses, principally Workforce, who this year does make it to the Breeders' Cup where, with him, Midday and Frankel all successful, Khalid Abdulla has the best day of his life; and someone as rich as him will already have had some good ones.
LEADING STAYER: A belated first prize for Aidan O'Brien, who assures us that Fame And Glory has enough speed to win a July Cup but eventually bites the bullet and campaigns him as a stayer with resounding success. Fame And Glory wins the Gold Cup at Royal Ascot by the same margin as Yeats' four combined.
CHAMPION TWO-YEAR-OLD: Something by Iffraaj probably, owned by Khalid Abdullah probably, making its debut at Newmarket in July and sent off at 4/6 probably.
LEADING SIRE: The aforementioned Iffraaj is up there, while Teofilo does best of the rookie sires, but the award unexpectedly goes to former trainer Philip Mitchell, with elder son Jack riding over 100 winners and youngster Freddie taking the amateur circuit by storm.
RIDE OF THE YEAR: Somebody somewhere along the line will get one home with a slipped saddle or no irons, but the trophy automatically goes to any jockey who can persuade Fishforcompliments to win.
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Timeform give an update on their Horses to Follow in every edition of their 'Extra' publication. Timeform Horses to Follow Extra is published ten times a season to coincide with the big Flat meetings. The Guineas edition features no less than five big-race previews, as well as numerous other winner-finding features. Download your copy now from timeform.com.
If you are not a member of timeform.com, then there's no better time to join. Sign up today entering the code TBB40 and deposit £20, and Timeform will treble it. That will give you enough to subscribe to the whole season of Timeform Horses to Follow Extra and leave you enough change for a racecard on both days of the Guineas Meeting. Enjoy!!
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