Timeform's Flat Horses To Follow in 2023 is on sale now
Find winners this Flat season with the latest edition of Timeform’s Horses To Follow, which is packed with expert insight and valuable betting pointers.
The core of the book is the Fifty – our idea of the top prospects in Britain this season. Last year’s crop included the Sir Michael Stoute-trained Desert Crown, who was described as “one to look out for in a Derby trial with plenty of improvement to come”.
He duly took a big step forward to land the Dante Stakes at York on his reappearance, winning easily by three and a quarter lengths, before maintaining his unbeaten record with another impressive performance when sent off the 5/2 favourite for the Derby at Epsom.
In the Classic Ante-Post section of Horses To Follow, Desert Crown had been selected at 40/1 to win the Derby by Features Writer John Ingles, who also picked out the 5/1 winner of the 2000 Guineas, Coroebus. Ingles has once again highlighted his best bets for this year’s Classics, including a pair of 33/1 shots for the Oaks at Epsom.
Another notable success story in last year’s Fifty was Eldar Eldarov, a colt "destined for better things as a three-year-old”.
He developed into a very smart performer in 2022 with three wins from five starts, notably winning the Queen’s Vase at Royal Ascot before gaining a Classic victory of his own in the St Leger at Doncaster. He produced a career-best effort on Town Moor to land the spoils by two lengths and could be the type to blossom still further as a four-year-old.
Anmaat and Dark Shift were a couple of older horses who struck in prestigious handicaps. Dark Shift was another Royal Ascot winner in the Hunt Cup, while Anmaat returned from 10 months off with a comfortable success in the John Smith's Cup at York. Anmaat wasn’t finished there, either, as he subsequently took the step up into pattern company in his stride with victories in the Rose of Lancaster Stakes at Haydock and Prix Dollar at Longchamp.
The other top-class performer in the Fifty was Desert Crown’s stablemate Bay Bridge, who was included as “another likely type to add to his trainer’s well-founded reputation for bringing about further improvement from his older horses”.
Bay Bridge immediately looked a candidate for top honours when making a successful reappearance in the Brigadier Gerard Stakes and, though meeting with defeat on his first two attempts in Group 1 company, he signed off with the sort of performance his Sandown win had promised when landing the Champion Stakes at Ascot.
This year’s list includes the usual mix of Classic prospects, older horses with Group-race potential and those from all age groups who can pay their way in handicaps, so order your copy of Horses To Follow 2023 today.
The Fifty in Britain are again backed up by a select list of ten from Ireland, while there are plenty of other features to enjoy, including Classic Ante-Post and the popular Talking To The Trainers section, which features the thoughts of leading lights such as Charlie Appleby, William Haggas and Roger Varian.
Find out which unraced filly “showed plenty in the autumn last year and was very close to running when she suffered an injury which ruled her out” according to Haggas, and which novice winner has Varian “excited to see what the ceiling of her ability is”.
There’s also the review of the 2022 season, including all the key statistics, and a list of Timeform’s 100 highest-rated horses by age group.
Get all this high-class content in Horses To Follow 2023 for just £10.95 on Amazon.
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