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GRAEME RODWAY |
Weblog: On the Ten To Follow trail
Momentum builds with Harbinger and Canford
Momentum, momentum, momentum. That is what the Ten to Follow is all about and in many ways - like punting itself - when things are going well they go very well, and when things are going badly they go very badly.
Earlier in the season, I couldn't do a thing right from a Ten to Follow perspective, but things are looking rather more rosy now after the perfect set of transfers.
Harbinger has always looked a horse of great promise and it was great to see the Sir Michael Stoute-trained colt bag me 54 points with a facile victory in the King George. I must admit, the manner of his victory was somewhat surprising but welcomed all the same, and he is going to take some stopping this season.
The Juddmonte International at York is next and he has plenty of speed, so I will be surprised if the drop back to 1m2f poses any problems. A strong field looks set to oppose, but a reproduction of his King George performance will surely see him bag another 50. And then there's the Arc!
Regular readers will know just how much I love Canford Cliffs and he put the icing on thecake when swooping to get the better of my other runner Rip Van Winkle in the Sussex Stakes on Wednesday and bag me a further 62 points.
Richard Hannon's three-year-old showed his class to peg back the Aidan O'Brien runner and win cheekily and who else is hoping for a Goldikova-Canford Cliffs showdown? I certainly hope it happens and my money will be on the youngster as the weight-for-age scale will make things tough for the older mare.
The bonus window has definitely restored the sheen to my list and after a week where I managed to jump from a lowly 147 points to a more respectable 263 points, I'm feeling fairly satisfied and I'm optimistic about what is to come.
The York Ebor meeting is next on the agenda and as well as Harbinger going in the International, I also have the speedball Starspangledbanner aiming to make it past the magical 100-point barrier in the Nunthorpe.
My heart tells me he will do it, but my head is saying otherwise as it was stamina which won him the day in the July Cup, and had the race been over 5f, I have a feeling another old favourite of mine, Equiano, might have had his measure. Barry Hills' five-year-old is an absolute flying machine and York is aspeed track, so from a punting point of view I think I may be leaning his way come the day.
The other big race there is the Great Voltigeur and that is shaping up to be a proper trial for the final Classic with the two market leaders,Midas Touch and Rewilding, apparently on course for that contest. I played it safe at the window and stuck with the obvious as I had no idea what would win the St Leger and very little has changed; I'm yet to be convinced by anything in the race.
At the last look, I was in 31st in my private competition, and that's not too bad considering I had a disastrous start. There are 82 competing and I'm in the top half, so let's sit back, relax, and hope for things to continue in the same vein that they have done for the past week. Good luck all.
Ten To Follow:
Awzaan
Elusive Pimpernel
Fame And Glory - 65
Fencing Master
Mister Manannan
Pollenator
Rip Van Winkle - 12
Siyouni
St Nicholas Abbey
Starspangledbanner - 82
Canford Cliffs - 50
Harbinger - 54
TOTAL: 263
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